Nuna Group of Companies - Nuna Logistics
Eureka Runway Recapitalization
What makes it interesting?
The location is the most interesting, and challenging aspect to the project, as it lies just a hair south of 80 degrees latitude and is never completely ice free in the fjords of the western shore of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada. Only one trip per year is made to Eureka, by the Coast Guard. Work is done for only a few months out of the year, when enough snow is melted, before winter looms again and halts activities until the next year.
How HCSS Software assisted with this project
HeavyBid helped Nuna win this job as they were able to evaluate multiple schedule and risk-mitigation options efficiently. Nuna could categorize the different types of costs and assign contingencies and markups effectively. They were also able to price in compacted volume but think and plan in loose volume.
Project Description:
Due to the complexity of accessing the Eureka Runway Recapitalization project site in the Arctic, no pre-bid site inspection was possible and no detailed site photos were available. There are two major commercial shipping companies serving Canada’s north; neither one has ever been to this location. In fact, only the Coast Guard icebreakers service Eureka, and they only make one trip per year.
Mobilization is the only activity the first year as the ice isn’t thin enough to break through until late August. The entire fleet must be on the cargo ship and travel timed perfectly to meet up with the icebreaker for the last portion of the voyage as the Coast Guard cannot vary from their schedule. By the time the fleet is unloaded and facilities are set up, winter is looming and no work will be done until spring.
There should be enough snow melted by June to allow excavation and crushing of material for the runway reconstruction the following spring and work can continue for up to four months before winter arrives again. If all goes well, the remaining excavation and crushing will be completed in the third year. If not, the fleet will sit, frozen in, until yet another spring arrives.
Demobilization presents all of the same logistical challenges as were seen on the way in. A small, simple, otherwise ordinary gravel-surfaced runway repair becomes infinitely more complicated when Santa is the closest neighbor.
