Budget lifts West Coast shipbuilder
Seaspan Marine foresees decades of coast guard work on horizon
VICTORIA – Seaspan Marine says the $5.2 billion allotted to the Canadian Coast Guard in last week’s federal budget means the company could be turning out vessels for twice as long as expected, keeping thousands of West Coast workers on the job for many more years.
The budget committed $5.2 billion over 11 years to the coast guard for new vessels and helicopters, and to repair and refit existing vessels.
Jonathan Whitworth, Seaspan’s chief executive officer, anticipates the company will get the bulk of that money.
“Based on the amount of vessels that we know the coast guard needs to be replaced, we would not be surprised if the number was in the $4.5-billion range.”
Although specifics have not been released by the government, Seaspan could be building coast guard ships for 18 to 20 years, up from the previous timeline of eight to 10 years, Whitworth said.
“That’s the win out of all of this,” Whitworth said from Vancouver. “It’s enormous. Very, very exciting.”
Seaspan, owner of Victoria Shipyards in Esquimalt and Vancouver Shipyards, won the right last fall to negotiate construction of $8-billion worth of federal non-combat ships under the national shipbuilding procurement strategy. About 4,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created.
Seaspan plans to meet with coast guard officials over the next two weeks to better understand what’s planned for the $5.2 billion, Whitworth said.
When Seaspan got the nod for non-combat ships, seven vessels were planned. Those ships were already funded. The cost to build them is still being assessed, but does not reach the $8 billion in the non-combat package, Whitworth said. “We don’t have a firm number on that and neither does the government.”
Whitworth has previously said it was possible more coast guard ships could be announced under the national shipbuilding procurement strategy.
The latest money allotted will likely fall within the $8-billion non-combat package and is not expected to increase its total value, Whitworth said. “It’s new ships. It’s not new money.”
Individual contracts will be signed for each of the vessels to be built. Most ship construction will happen in North Vancouver, with final trials and finishing in Esquimalt.
An offshore fisheries science vessel will be the first ship built by Seaspan under the program. Prior to a contract being signed with the federal government, engineers for Seaspan will work out the project’s specifications and design and price it out, Whitworth said. That could take to the end of this year.
Construction of the fisheries vessel will likely begin in the second or third quarter of 2013, he said.
Seaspan is spending up to $200 million to upgrade its Vancouver and Victoria yards.
George Macpherson, president of the B.C. Shipyard Workers Federation, is optimistic that the bulk of the allotted $5.2 billion will go to build coast-guard ships under the national shipbuilding procurement strategy.
He hopes some of that money will be allocated to smaller contracts to give other yards a chance to bid on smaller vessels.