Trucking on James Bay shoreline can be dangerous

Unlike most drivers who complain if the streets are not salted, sanded and bare of ice before they drive for 15 minutes to work, Sault resident Alain Beaulieu wants the ice to be as thick as possible when he sets out from Moosonee for the 12-hour drive to the Victor Mine project about 90 kilometres west of the coastal town of Attawapiskat.

At Moosonee, the railhead for the Ontario Northland railroad, both rail lines and maintained roads cease to exist. Goods are transferred to barges and planes for travel further north in the summer. In the winter, trucks transport goods on a cold and dangerous trip across the frozen tundra and James Bay in Northern Ontario to the site of the first DeBeers diamond mine in Ontario.

In January when the temperature stays around minus 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, crews start at both ends and in the middle to construct the ice road. They break holes in frozen James Bay, using generators for power. With long lengths of hose, they continually flood the ice road to build up a smooth, thick coat to handle the heavy trucks that will use it twenty four hours a day, seven days a week until breakup about six weeks later, depending on the whim of Mother Nature.

Policy varies from company to company as to how trucks travel, but Alain, who transports fuel for Esso, always moves in a convoy of 10 trucks accompanied by two pilot half-ton trucks. One pilot truck travels at the front of the pack and one brings up the rear. These pilot trucks, whose drivers are very familiar with the area and the ice conditions, are the first vehicles to drive across the ice when they move over James Bay as they follow the coastline north, carry warning lights enroute.
The trucks normally have a top speed of 50 km per hour, but that drops to 35 km per hour or less when they travel across frozen James Bay for obvious safety reasons.

Even though they move slowly and keep about one quarter of a mile space between them, their weight causes the water under the ice to move forward in a wave that can inflict real damage to the ice and the trucks on it when it reaches the shore and starts to roll back.

To complicate the situation further, the fuel in the tankers can start to slosh around. Since speed is cut drastically to avoid problems like this, the trip takes 12 hours to complete one way.
Esso has two fuel conveys running constantly so, as one group pulls in and unloads, the other convoy of drivers who have had their 12 hours of downtime at the mine site can set out on the return trip in empty trucks, starting the process all over again.

Security is very tight during unloading and includes random checks of work boot cleats to ensure that no diamonds are being carried away by the crews.

According to Alain, the housing provided at the mine is brand new and first class. This will only appeal to a real ice cream lover, but it seems that, even in a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere, the soft ice cream machine is in constant use.

Alain describes the swampy, frozen tundra as being, "very flat, with stunted trees that may well be 300 to 400 years old but only about six feet high and six inches around and just too small to provide a wind barrier. With temperatures that drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius, howling winds and lots of snow, it seems like a no man's land but I like living on the edge, so I enjoy what I do. I am always happy to get home to see my wife and family for a couple of weeks. I could not do this job without the support of Sylvie, my wife, who has to be a single parent for the stretches when I am away. In the summer, I work in Alberta on rail maintenance for CN Rail. I am never bored and the jobs pay well."

To date, Alain has worked with all male crews but women are starting to show an interest in ice road trucking and females may soon be driving the big rigs over the ice too.
Next time you complain about cold weather and hitting an icy patch on a well maintained city street, consider the truckers like Alain who hope for freezing temperatures to maintain the 40 inches of ice that will support their heavy trucks and keep them from going for a heart-attack-inducing dip when the ice gives way under them!

The opening of the diamond mines has created a huge demand for ice road truckers who haul in their supplies so, if the lifestyle appeals to you, perhaps you will soon join Alain behind the wheel on the ice roads in our frozen north.
Remember your warm hat and mitts!