The Case for Large Cargo Airships in the Canadian North
Mar 19, 2024 — 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
No registration needed – open to all.
Event details
The lack of reliable, all season transportation infrastructure is a major impediment to the economic development of Canada's North and to improving of the quality of life of those living there. Building roads is extremely expensive, and the ice road season is shorter each passing year. Despite the long coastline, there are few ports capable of accepting large surface vessels and sea ice is an ongoing hazard that keeps the shipping season short. Cargo airships offer a tantalizing solution to many of these problems.
Over the past two decades there has been an increasing resurgence of interest and investment in large airships and there are several now in flight testing. Prospective end users such as mining companies, isolated northern communities, provincial and territorial governments and even military branches are all interested in the potential offered by airships. Yet, there remain financial and technical obstacles to overcome.
Dr. Barry Prentice will outline the economic case for cargo airships and the need for a suitable cold weather testing facility to support their introduction in the Canadian environment.
Dr. Barry E. Prentice
Professor of Supply Chain Management
Professor of Supply Chain Management, at the University of Manitoba and the President of Buoyant Aircraft Systems International, Inc. (BASI) and the ISO Polar Airship Association.
In 2002, Dr. Prentice organized the first Airships to the Arctic conference. This began the public interest in Canada of using cargo airships for Northern transportation. In 2005, he co-founded ISO Polar as a not-for-profit institute to coordinate airship research, cold-weather testing and to hold further Airships to the Arctic Conferences. In 2011, Dr. Prentice established Buoyant Aircraft Systems International (BASI), to undertake airship and drone research at a newly constructed hanger at St. Andrews Airport. A 24-meter airship was built as a research platform and a smaller 18-meter, radio-controlled airship was flown to test systems for the shipment of supplies to remote communities and mines. The entire research facility and aircraft were destroyed in a violent storm in 2015. Since that time, BASI has focused on the development of an electrically-powered, hydrogen-filled, remotely-piloted, rigid airships for cargo transportation.