{"id":34677,"date":"2025-07-30T15:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/34677\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T15:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:57:12","slug":"largest-canadian-owned-fishing-vessel-christened-in-iqaluit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/34677\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Largest Canadian-owned fishing vessel\u2019 christened in Iqaluit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Community celebrates as Baffin Fisheries\u2019 Inuksuk II sets sail after many setbacks<\/p>\n

It took a dozen swings for Baffin Fisheries chairperson Kelly Kilabuk to break a champagne bottle on the hull of the Inuksuk II.<\/p>\n

But when the glass shattered, the journey was finally over. The Nunavut-owned fishery company could set sail into its next era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can remember many, many years ago, we said, \u2018One day we\u2019re going to build this vessel, we\u2019re going to sail it into Iqaluit and we\u2019re going to smash the champagne bottle against the hull,\u2019\u201d CEO Chris Flanagan said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to deliver a lot of returns for many years, so I\u2019m thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inuksuk II, Baffin Fisheries\u2019 newest vessel, was christened during a ceremony at the Iqaluit deepsea port Tuesday attended by at least 50 employees, board members, government officials and community members.<\/p>\n

Inuksuk II is the third fishing vessel in the company\u2019s fleet. It replaces Inuksuk I, a vessel the company has since sold to a buyer in the Faroe Islands.<\/p>\n

Getting the ship to port in Iqaluit has taken several years.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

After announcing the $72.5-million purchase of the vessel<\/a> in 2021, Baffin Fisheries encountered several delays and challenges.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 made access to the shipyard in Turkey difficult, and a Russian attack on a Ukrainian metal supplier delayed construction, Flanagan said.<\/p>\n

Last October, an engine failure stalled the vessel on its maiden voyage, forcing a return to Turkey<\/a>\u00a0for repairs.<\/p>\n

In January, Inuksuk II arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The vessel is 79.5 metres long, nine storeys tall from the top deck to the bottom storage area, and carries a crew of 32.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the largest Canadian-owned fishing vessel,\u201d Flanagan said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

On board, there is a fish processing plant, which can process 55 tons of turbot and 65 tons of shrimp per day.<\/p>\n

In total, the ship has the capacity to hold 1,200 tons of turbot and 900 tons of shrimp.<\/p>\n

In addition to the new range of computers for mapping, the crew\u2019s quarters include improved internet service, and amenities such as a gym and sauna.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur general trip now is six to seven weeks, so you need good accommodations to keep everybody comfortable and the internet to keep people connected with home as well,\u201d said Shane Noonan, the ship\u2019s captain, adding workers used to be able to call home only once a week.<\/p>\n

Baffin Fisheries is jointly owned by the hunters and trappers associations of Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Clyde River, Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Acquiring and operating the Inuksuk II is a \u201cCanadian success story,\u201d Flanagan said, with hopes the vessel could operate for the next 25 to 30 years.<\/p>\n

While Flanagan is set to retire as CEO in August, he\u2019s excited to see what Inuksuk II brings to its community owners \u2014 a sentiment Kilabuk shares.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is owned by Inuit here on Inuit land, in Iqaluit, and it\u2019s been a lot of work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s many years of a vision that has become reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community celebrates as Baffin Fisheries\u2019 Inuksuk II sets sail after many setbacks It took a dozen swings for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-34677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}