Camps & Catering
The camps and catering segment is operated through Horizon North Camp & Catering Partnership (Horizon North Camps & Catering, Horizon North Manufacturing, Northern Trailer and Horizon North Power Systems), BlackSand Executive Lodge, and Pioneer Site Services Ltd. and provides full service accommodation and food services to customers working on projects in remote regions of Northern Alberta and British Columbia, as well as Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon where the local infrastructure does not provide such facilities.
Horizon North designs and manufactures its camp units at its manufacturing facilities in Grande Prairie, Alberta and Kamloops, B.C. These units are rented to customers on a short term basis for periods ranging on average from 30 to 180 days. Customers are charged daily rental rates for the equipment plus transportation, installation and maintenance costs. The camps are mobile and are moved between work sites by truck and trailer. Some of the equipment is also set up under an “open camp” concept in regions that have high activity. An open camp operates much like a hotel, where customers can house and feed their work crews for an all inclusive daily rate per employee. A portion of the customers of the full service camp and catering operation are in the upstream oil and gas industry with equipment utilization closely tied to drilling rig activity. The business is therefore exposed somewhat to the cyclical nature of the oil and gas exploration and production business which is closely tied to oil and natural gas commodity prices. The camp and catering operation also has seasonal activity fluctuations with the winter months of January through March being the busiest due to the frozen ground conditions which allows heavy equipment to access drilling locations. The spring months of April and May usually have the lowest activity levels as soft ground conditions do not allow heavy equipment to access many locations.
In June 2008, Horizon North opened a 500 man open camp, called BlackSand Executive Lodge, near Fort McMurray, Alberta to service the large oil sands projects in the area. These projects operate year round and the addition of this camp will reduce the seasonality of the camp and catering segment.
A portion of the camp manufacturing capacity has been directed to the sale of camps to customers outside the oil and gas sector, primarily in the mining industry. With the acquisition of Northern Trailer, Horizon North also added a fleet of site office units that are rented primarily to construction projects on a short or long term basis.
Horizon North designs and manufactures its camp units at its manufacturing facilities in Grande Prairie, Alberta and Kamloops, B.C. These units are rented to customers on a short term basis for periods ranging on average from 30 to 180 days. Customers are charged daily rental rates for the equipment plus transportation, installation and maintenance costs. The camps are mobile and are moved between work sites by truck and trailer. Some of the equipment is also set up under an “open camp” concept in regions that have high activity. An open camp operates much like a hotel, where customers can house and feed their work crews for an all inclusive daily rate per employee. A portion of the customers of the full service camp and catering operation are in the upstream oil and gas industry with equipment utilization closely tied to drilling rig activity. The business is therefore exposed somewhat to the cyclical nature of the oil and gas exploration and production business which is closely tied to oil and natural gas commodity prices. The camp and catering operation also has seasonal activity fluctuations with the winter months of January through March being the busiest due to the frozen ground conditions which allows heavy equipment to access drilling locations. The spring months of April and May usually have the lowest activity levels as soft ground conditions do not allow heavy equipment to access many locations.
In June 2008, Horizon North opened a 500 man open camp, called BlackSand Executive Lodge, near Fort McMurray, Alberta to service the large oil sands projects in the area. These projects operate year round and the addition of this camp will reduce the seasonality of the camp and catering segment.
A portion of the camp manufacturing capacity has been directed to the sale of camps to customers outside the oil and gas sector, primarily in the mining industry. With the acquisition of Northern Trailer, Horizon North also added a fleet of site office units that are rented primarily to construction projects on a short or long term basis.
