[3][4][5] Almost none of Canada's Northern communities have any port facilities, a fact the series portrays dramatically as it shows the extra difficulties the ships face unloading cargo: (1) unloading and launching a tugboat and barge, they carry as deck cargo; (2) using the tug and barge to carry front end loaders to the community's beach, where they will then unload pallets of cargo from subsequent barge loads.

We’re simply following the story, following the lives, and we’re not embellishing or we’re not putting our own perspectives on what’s happening to try to change the narrative.”[7] Redvers is from Hay River, Northwest Territories, sometimes called "The Hub of the North", where cargo from the south arrives, by rail, and is then loaded on barges for shipment down the Mackenzie River system, and then to sites in the Beaufort Sea and western Arctic.

He said he was proud of portions of the show that profiled young people of First Nations background, playing a leadership role.

One of the items being shipped that episode one followed was school-teacher Vicki Tanuyak's shiny new red pickup truck.

[6] His review noted the producers had applied a formula that worked well for other successful shows, like Ice Pilots NWT or Ice Road Truckers, or Great Pacific's own Heavy Rescue: 401 and Highway Through Hell - "Rugged teams of blue-collar heroes, mostly male, struggl[ing] against bad weather, bad luck and other hardships."