The Canadian contractor Pennecon left Qaqortoq in mid-December after a job well done with the establishment of the new runway for Greenland Airports.
It took the approximately 100 men, many on rotation schemes, almost 2 1/2 years to blast and establish the 1,500-meter-long runway, which will be officially put into use on April 16, when the entire new airport opens.
Pickup trucks sold to locals
Pennecon, which has its headquarters in Newfoundland, left behind not only the runway, but also a few pickup trucks that locals had been given the opportunity to buy before the company returned to Canada with the remaining equipment.
That is why both Ford F-150s and Dodge Ram 1500s are now driving around Qaqortoq.
Throughout the runway project, Pennecon has worked closely with local subcontractors, including 60 North Greenland, who also helped when the last equipment had to be loaded onto their chartered cargo ship.
“The ship could not dock in Qaqortoq harbor, as it is too large, so we sailed everything out to them on our landing craft in collaboration with Arctic Unlimited, which also has a similar vessel,” says Malik Vahl Rasmussen, director of 60 North Greenland.
– Over the course of about 30 days, we transported about 270 items of varying sizes to the ship. It was everything from cars and containers to large excavators that were disassembled before we could transport them.
Ship full of equipment
According to Malik Vahl Rasmussen, the cargo ship had to sail between Canada and Qaqortoq in two rounds.
– In the first round, it was asphalt, the company's machinery, crushing plants, asphalt production plants, pavers, dozers, excavators, cars and similar construction equipment that were transported to the ship, after which it sailed to Canada and returned empty. Then they picked up the second load, which was distributed in both the cargo hold and on the deck of the ship.
– We helped them the most at the end with unloading and transporting all their equipment. In addition, we have had a lot of transport and logistics throughout the period, including the rental of personnel and machinery, says Malik Vahl Rasmussen.
