Arctic Umiaq Line A/S (AUL) or Arctic Umiaq is a

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

and

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

shipping line in

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. Its name derives from the Kalaallisut word for the traditional

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

passenger boat, the

umiak The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by the Yupik peoples, Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First used in Thule people, Thule ...

, distinguished from the

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

, used for hunting. The sea connection provided by Arctic Umiaq provides supplies and communication to the entirety of western and southwestern Greenland. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Arctic Line.

History

Arctic Umiaq Line was founded in 2006. Like many Greenlandic companies, it can trace its operations to former divisions of the Royal Greenland Trade Department before its 1986 handover to the Greenland Home Rule Government. Since 2007, Arctic Umiaq Line has been operating at a deficit, with the CEO Søren Grønhøj Andersen sued for mismanagement. The company carried fewer passengers for the first nine months of 2009 than in the comparable period of the previous year. The Greenland Home Rule Government has continued to provide loss guarantees to the joint owners. In fiscal 2011, this amounted to DKK 8.1 million, and Royal Arctic Line announced that loss guarantees have been secured through 2016. Ownership in The Arctic Umiaq Line was shared equally between

Air Greenland Air Greenland Aktieselskab, A/S (formerly named Grønlandsfly and Greenlandair) is the flag carrier of Greenland, owned by the Naalakkersuisut, Greenlandic Government. It operates a fleet of 28 aircraft, including a single Airbus A330-800 airli ...

and Royal Arctic Line until 2016. In 2016, Air Greenland sold its 50% stake in the company to Royal Arctic Line, and since July 1, 2016 the Arctic Umiaq Line has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Arctic Line.

Operations

The ferry service operates from late April until early January. , Arctic Umiaq Line employs 43 people, operating one ship on the

Ilulissat Ilulissat, also known as Jacobshavn or Jakobshav, is the municipal seat and largest town of the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With a population of 4,670 as of 2020, it is the ...

Narsaq Narsaq ( Danish: ''Nordprøven'') is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name ''Narsaq'' is Kalaallisut for "Plain", referring to the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located. History People have liv ...

route along the coast of western and southwestern Greenland.

Ports of call

The ''Sarfaq Ittuk'' stops in the following towns on its coastal journey, with the approximate times for a southbound journey listed for illustration: Until 2008, the service had been extended to

Narsarsuaq Narsarsuaq (lit. ''Great Plain'';''Facts and History of Narsarsuaq'', Narsarsuad Tourist Information old spelling: ''Narssarssuaq'') is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It had 123 inhabitants in 2020. There is a thr ...

during summer.

Fleet

Current fleet

The only ship in operation is M/S ''Sarfaq Ittuk'' ( IMO 8913899). Built in 1992, it was subsequently renovated and upgraded in 2000 in the

Gdańsk Shipyard The Gdańsk Shipyard (, formerly Lenin Shipyard) is a large Polish shipyard, located in the city of Gdańsk, northern Poland. The yard gained international fame when Polish trade union Solidarity () was founded there in September 1980. It is sit ...

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The ship has a 249-passenger capacity, with 52 2-bed cabins, and 145 communal (compartment or couchette) rollout beds on the two lower decks. It has a length (overall) of 72.8 m, a Gross tonnage of 2118 t, and freight capacity ( Deadweight) of 163 t.

Former fleet

M/S ''Sarpik Ittuk'' which serviced the

Upernavik Archipelago Upernavik Archipelago is a vast coastal archipelago in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, off the shores of northeastern Baffin Bay. The archipelago extends from the northwestern coast of Sigguup Nunaa peninsula in the south at ...

, the

Uummannaq Fjord Uummannaq Fjord is a large fjord system in the northern part of western Greenland, the largest after Scoresby Sund, Kangertittivaq fjord in eastern Greenland. It has a roughly south-east to west-north-west orientation, emptying into the Baffin ...

region, and

Disko Bay Disko Bay (; Christensen, N.O. & al.Elections in Greenland". ''Arctic Circular'', Vol. 4 (1951), pp. 83–85. Op. cit. "Northern News". ''Arctic'', Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar 1952), pp. 58–59.) is a large bay on the western coast of Greenland. ...

was sold in 2006 to Nova Cruising, a company from the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

. As of 2010 Disko Bay is served by Diskoline on the governmental contract, whereas transport services between

and the

region are provided by infrequent cargo/ferry ships of Royal Arctic Line.

Photographs

File:Arctic-umiaq-sarfak-ittuk-arsuk.jpg, Sarfaq Ittuk navigating between icebergs south of Arsuk, in the vicinity of Alaanorssuaq. View from the bow. File:Arctic-umiaq-sarfak-ittuk-qaqortoq.jpg, Sarfaq Ittuk − passenger exchange at Qaqortoq port File:Arctic-umiaq-sarfak-ittuk-ralak-kangaamiut.jpg, Ferry boat deployed from Sarfaq Ittuk at Kangaamiut. The settlement does not have an adequate port due to constrained waterways; the passengers are ferried back and forth instead. File:Arctic-umiaq-sarfak-ittuk-narsaq.jpg, Sarfaq Ittuk moored at Narsaq port

References

{{Companies of Greenland Shipping companies of Greenland Companies based in Nuuk Transport in Nuuk