1. Home
2. Marine Transportation
3. Marine Safety
4. Design, Equipment & Boating Safety
5. Arctic Shipping
6. Shipping Operations
7. Navigational Services
8. Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services (NORDREG)

Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services (NORDREG)

To promote safe and efficient navigation and environmental protection in the Canadian Arctic, a ship reporting system, namely Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services (NORDREG) Zone, was established. NORDREG accomplishes this by:

• verifying that ships wishing to travel in the NORDREG Zone are suitably constructed to withstand the ice conditions that they will likely encounter along their routes,
• monitoring ships’ locations to be able to respond effectively to emergencies,
• providing support services, for example, providing up-to-date information on ice conditions, advice on ice routes, aids to navigation and icebreaker support when available and considered necessary and organization of convoys as required by prevailing navigation conditions.

Classes of vessels that are required to report

All vessels are encouraged to participate fully, however, the following vessels, which pose the greatest risk to the marine environment, are required to report prior to entering, while operating within and upon exiting the NORDREG Zone:

• Vessels of 300 gross tonnage or more;
• Vessels that are engaged in towing or pushing a vessel, if the combined gross tonnage of the vessel and the vessel being towed or pushed is 500 gross tonnage or more; and
• Vessels carrying as cargo a pollutant or dangerous goods, or engaged in towing or pushing a vessel carrying as cargo a pollutant or dangerous goods.

The NORDREG Zone

Canada’s northern waters that make up the NORDREG Zone are illustrated in Figure 1 below. The NORDREG Zone consists of those waters covered by the Shipping Safety Control Zones and additionally, the waters of Ungava Bay, Hudson Bay and Kugmallit Bay that are not in a shipping safety control zone, the waters of James Bay, the waters of Koksoak River from Ungava Bay to Kuujjuaq, the waters of Feuilles Bay from Ungava Bay to Tasiujaq, the waters of Chesterfield Inlet that are not within a shipping safety control zone and Baker Lake, and the waters of Moose River from James Bay to Moosonee.

Figure 1 - Map of the NORDREG Zone (View a larger PDF version, 1165 KB) *

Links to more information about NORDREG

• On the Department of Justice web site:
  Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services (NORDREG) was established by the Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services Zone Regulations under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.

• On the Canadian Coast Guard web site:
  The Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services (NORDREG) are administered by the Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). Information about NORDREG, including the reporting requirements and contact information, is available in Part 3 of the CCG’s Radio Aids to Marine Navigation 2010 publications, and amendments to the information therein is made known in the monthly edition of Notices to Mariners. Some information about NORDREG is also available in the annual edition of Notices to Mariners.

• As presented at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Information on the Mandatory Canadian Ship Reporting System in Canada’s Northern Waters (NORDREG) (PDF Version, 3082 KB) * contains detailed information about NORDREG (including the reporting requirements).

* To access the Portable Document Format (PDF) version you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous PDF readers available for free download or for purchase on the Internet:

• Adobe Reader
• Foxit Reader
• Xpdf
• eXPert PDF Reader

Date modified:

2010-11-16

Primary navigation