The cost of support ships rises once again

OTTAWA— Canada’s national shipbuilding plan was rocked by yet another cost increase on Monday as the federal government revealed it will pay $4.1 billion for two long-overdue support ships for the navy — an increase of $1.5 billion from initial estimates.

The revelation came as Ottawa officially awarded a contract for the full construction of the two new Protecteur-class joint support ships to Vancouver’s Seaspan shipyards, which has already started work on the first of the vessels.

Seaspan was first tapped to build the two ships and several coast guard vessels in 2011, at which point the supply ships were expected to cost $2.6 billion. The figure was later revised to $3.4 billion before another $700 million was added Monday.

The first of the support ships was to have been delivered by 2019. The government says it now doesn’t expect the first ship before ’23, with the second due in ’25. Seaspan has been under contract to work on some parts of the first ship since June 2018.

The Royal Canadian Navy has been without a full-time support ship since ’14 and is currently relying on a converted civilian vessel that is being leased from Quebec’s Chantier Davie shipyard to fill the gap. That ship, the MV Asterix, was at the heart of the failed prosecution of retired vice-admiral Mark Norman.

The Liberal government was playing down the cost increase to the support ships Monday, with senior ministers touting the importance of the vessels to the Royal Canadian Navy and the jobs that the project is creating in Vancouver and elsewhere.

“These new ships will provide a necessary capability for our Royal Canadian Navy, while providing significant economic benefits and jobs to Canadians, including thousands of jobs created or sustained,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a statement.

Yet the cost increase is the latest to hit the shipbuilding plan, which has been plagued by delays and budget increases for years.

The entire plan to buy new warships to replace the navy’s frigates and destroyers, several Arctic patrol vessels, a polar icebreaker and four science vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard in addition to the two support ships was pegged in 2011 at $35 billion.