Sodexo Partners with Camps & Crew to
Streamline FIFO Transport Logistics and
Camp Management for Remote
Hydroelectric Project

Sodexo leverages EnRoute and SmartLodge at Keeyask Camp in Northern Manitoba to facilitate seamless transportation and accommodation management, significantly elevating operational productivity and satisfaction of camp residents

Sodexo: a global leader in integrated facilities management

Sodexo is a food services and facilities management company dedicated to providing a superior experience for their clients across a wide variety of industries including energy, mining, education, and health. With its wide range of services, Sodexo provides comprehensive catering and facilities management services that meet the unique needs of each industry. They go above and beyond by seamlessly managing camp room reservations, crew check-ins, housekeeping, maintenance, and on-site dining, allowing their clients to focus on core business activities while enjoying top-notch support services while staffed at remote projects.

The Keeyask Generating Station: powering Manitoba's future with renewable energy

The development of the Keeyask Generating Station was a joint venture led by the Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership (KHLP), involving Manitoba Hydro and four First Nations. This 695-megawatt project was designed to harness renewable energy while minimizing environmental impact. Governed by the Joint Keeyask Development Agreement, the project emphasized local employment, training, and business opportunities, promoting economic and social growth. The project's environmental management was reinforced by Manitoba Hydro's ISO 14001 certified Environmental Management System and a comprehensive environmental protection program developed in alignment with the Keeyask Cree Nations' principles of caring for Askiy, the living earth. Upon completion, Keeyask has significantly contributed to Manitoba's sustainable energy future, demonstrating KHLP's commitment to ecological integrity and community involvement.

Sodexo manages complex travel and accommodation operations at the Keeyask camp in northern Manitoba

In service of project operations, Sodexo was tasked to manage the logistical complexities of worker transport to and from camp, as well as operations at camp. More on Sodexo's project involvement is detailed below:

Travel Coordination

Situated approximately 725 kilometers north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, on the lower Nelson River, the project necessitated that Sodexo oversee complex FIFO transportation logistics, which included:

• Chartered Flights: Most workers were transported via chartered flights from Winnipeg directly to local airfields near the site, such as those in Gillam or Thompson, which were the closest population centers to Keeyask.
• Ground Transportation: From these airfields, designated ground transportation was provided for workers to reach the camp and construction sites, primarily along permanent access roads built specifically for the project.

Careful management of transport logistics was crucial, especially considering the extreme sub-arctic climate of the area. The region experienced long, harsh winters with temperatures often dropping below -25 degrees Celsius, making efficient travel coordination vital to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the workers.

Workforce Accommodation

The Keeyask camp, initially hosting 500 workers in a start-up camp with living quarters, offices, garages, and a kitchen, eventually scaled up to accommodate 2,000 workers at the main camp. Each camp resident enjoyed a private single-room, equipped with an ensuite washroom. Camp services were bolstered by strategic agreements with the four Keeyask Cree Nations, who worked alongside Sodexo staff to support camp operations.

Key operational responsibilities Sodexo managed or oversaw at camp included:

• Providing a diverse range of nutritious meals and snacks around the clock via a 24-hour dining facility, catering to the diverse dietary needs and preferences of the workforce.
• Ensuring a high standard of cleanliness for both the living quarters and communal areas throughout the camp.
• Conducting regular maintenance of facilities, ensuring that all living, working, and recreational areas were safe and fully functional.
• Offering immediate access to medical care and emergency services to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all camp residents.
• Implementing robust security measures to protect the workforce and property, maintaining a secure and orderly environment.
• Providing extensive recreational options including a modern fitness center, sports courts, a gaming center, and movie theaters.

Sodexo faces challenges managing transportation logistics and camp operations for a scaling workforce

Sodexo encountered challenges managing the transportation and accommodation for the workforce at Keeyask prior to implementing a digital-first solution. Their challenges included:

FIFO Transportation Challenges

The manual creation of transportation bookings for workers on roster rotations caused a significant administrative burden for travel coordinators, who had to handle a high volume of identical bookings for workers on the same rotation schedules on a regular basis.

• Managing schedules and seat capacities in spreadsheets for chartered flights and ground transport often resulted in errors, such as overbooking or empty seats on certain routes.
• Manually tracking passenger manifests and changes to manifests, such as no-shows, was cumbersome and hindered the creation of accurate passenger records for each leg of the journey.
• Monitoring and controlling charter travel spend required complex manual tracking of various costs. This practice was prone to errors and did not allow for travel teams to easily generate reporting, complicating budget adherence.

Camp Management Challenges

• The onboarding and check-in processes at the site were slow, often causing wait times to exceed one to two hours during the arrival of large crews.
• Contractors consistently requested more control and visibility over the quantity of rooms available to their workers. Using spreadsheets at the time, Sodexo had no way to enable contractors to monitor availability of rooms within their respective designated room blocks.
• Poor communication between housekeeping and the front desk sometimes resulted in rooms not being ready for arriving workers and led to sub-optimal room utilization.
• Managing alcohol consumption in designated dining facilities required meticulous manual monitoring and enforcement of restrictions, placing an unnecessary burden on bar staff.
• Sodexo was required to manually pull multiple daily reports for the project operator, which placed a significant strain on the front desk, leading to occasional delays in report distribution.

Sodexo optimizes transportation logistics, expedites check-in processes, and maximizes room utilization at Keeyask by implementing a one-stop-shop for FIFO operations

The deployment of EnRoute and SmartLodge significantly improved Sodexo's operational workflows and enhanced the guest experience at the Keeyask Camp. These two solutions, both part of the same unified platform offered by Camps & Crew, handled all aspects of transport and camp operations. Sodexo realized various benefits with its use of the platform, which included:

FIFO Transportation Support

• Streamlining the reservation process by auto-generating travel bookings for workers on roster rotations. For non-rostered groups, the system expedited the booking process by allowing travel reservations to be quickly created en masse. Both functionalities significantly alleviated the administrative burden on travel coordinators.
• Enhancing transport logistics by maintaining accurate schedules and seat inventories in the platform, ensuring proper seat allocation and preventing issues like overbooking or underutilization of seats.
• Ensuring passenger manifests were easily updated after last-minute changes, such as those caused by weather disruptions, no-shows or go-shows. The platform made it fast for travel coordinators to record these changes, ensuring compliance with legal requirements for maintaining accurate passenger records.
• Providing greater insight into charter travel costs through detailed tracking of costs in the platform, which gave management access to robust reporting and allowed for improved financial planning.

Camp Accommodation Support

• Reducing lengthy check-in wait times by allowing guests to complete most check-in procedures remotely via mobile devices while on their way to camp–or swiftly at self-service kiosks upon arrival
• Increasing the speed of room turnover by enabling real-time room status updates to flow between the housekeeping department and the front desk. The system kept housekeeping informed of room occupancy changes, allowing them to prioritize and clean rooms more efficiently. Housekeeping staff used mobile devices to update the cleaning status of each room as they progressed through their shifts. These updates reflected instantly in the system and enabled the front desk to assign rooms to guests more quickly.
• Managing alcohol consumption restrictions based on guest profile attributes. Workers registered in the platform as working the day shift were allowed to enjoy two alcoholic beverages during the evening. The platform tracked nightly drink consumption, alleviating bar staff of the responsibility of tracking the quantity of drinks consumed for each patron.
• Providing contractors with an online room booking portal, enabling them to manage room bookings within the block of rooms allocated to each contractor by the project operator.
• Automating the creation and distribution of multiple daily reports to the project operator, reducing the workload on the front desk and enhancing the accuracy and timeliness of reports.