The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Ships added to procurement plan
The federal government seemingly did something right in ship procurement, but not for the reasons they should have.
On Friday, the feds announced two heavy icebreakers for the coast guard, not one as originally planned. The first will be built by Davie, to enter service in 2030, to take over from CCGS Louis S. Stlaurent,which entered service in 1969. The second will be completed by Seaspan as originally intended.
The National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy set out to select two shipyards to build badly needed ships for the navy and coast guard. Halifax Shipyard and Seaspan in British Columbia were awarded the two main contracts.
Halifax Shipyard would build the Arctic offshore patrol vessels and the Canadian surface combatants. Seaspan would build three fisheries science vessels, two supply ships, an offshore science vessel and a heavy icebreaker.
For Seaspan, the fisheries vessels were an easy start; the designs were complete and they were ready construction. As for what to build next, it was decided Seaspan would build the first supply ship for the navy, then the coast guard's offshore science vessel, then the second supply ship. What about the heavy icebreaker?
Last year, the government announced it would add a third yard to the program.
Quebec's Davie was deemed to not meet requirements when the original bids were submitted, due to the yard's financial situation.
It was able to get past those troubles, and Davie was able to convince Ottawa to lease the Asterix as an interim supply ship for the navy and to purchase three interim medium icebreakers for the coast guard.
Davie was an easy addition to the strategy, as it could be awarded all the multi-purpose vessels for the coast guard that were not considered in the original plan. These ships do the bulk of the icebreaking and maintenance of buoys and other aids to navigation, and are also reaching the ends of their service lives.
As well, it was decided the heavy icebreaker was needed sooner so it would get that, as well.
This, of course, set off regional politics. B.C. complained it was losing work it was promised, and Davie has been saying the entire time it has capacity to do some of the work.
So the government did the only thing they could do. They bought a second ship.
Canada has two heavy icebreakers; the second is the 1983-built CCGS Terry Fox. It was originally built by Beaudrill for Arctic oil exploration. When that project ended, the ship was leased for two years by the federal government and purchased outright in 1993. There were no announced plans for its replacement.
This is not the first time ships have been added due to political pressure. The prospect of job losses at Halifax Shipyard between the completion of the Arctic and offshore patrol ships and the start of construction of the Canadian surface combatants led the government to add three ships to the order: one for the navy and two for the coast guard.
IN OTHER NEWS
• HMCS Margaret Brooke completed several days of sea trials off the coast of Nova Scotia. It departed Halifax Shipyard on Friday afternoon and returned Tuesday morning. Also, the bow mega block was rolled out for the future HMCS Max Bernays and positioned to join the rear two-thirds of the ship. It is scheduled to enter the water in the fall.
• Atlantic Towing has sold another vessel. The Atlantic Tern, which worked out of Halifax, was sold to Croatian owners and renamed Marjana K. The tug had been laid up in Stephenville, N.L., since work offshore Nova Scotia ended last summer.
• Fednav has taken delivery of its new icebreaking bulk carrier Arvik 1. The ship will service the Raglan Mine in Deception Bay. It was built in Japan and joins the 2007-built Umiak 1 and the 2014-built Nunavik. The ship will be flagged in Canada.
• Another Fednav ship, the Federal Montreal, made the news last week when 13 of its 19-person crew tested positive for COVID-19. The ship anchored in Conception Bay, N.L., and one crew member was taken to hospital. The Indian crew had boarded the ship in Hamilton earlier in the week.