Ottawa moving up construction of new support ship in B.C.
Quebec’s Davie Shipbuilding blasts decision
OTTAWA — In a move likely to send shock waves through Quebec and its shipbuilding industry, the federal government has decided to speed up construction of one of its permanent new naval support vessels.
The government’s multibillion-dollar shipbuilding plan has long called for Seaspan Marine in Vancouver to build an oceanscience vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard before turning to the navy’s two new support ships.
But the federal procurement department says the government will finish one of the support ships — which carry food, ammunition and fuel for fleets at sea — before moving onto the science vessel.
The second joint support ship, as the permanent vessels are called, will be built last.
The government last year approved a plan for Seaspan to start some advance work on one of the joint support ships as the shipyard waited for the coast guard to finish designing the science vessel.
The decision to now go ahead and completely finish the first ship will “build on the good momentum underway,” said Public Services and Procurement Canada spokesperson Pierre-Alain Bujold.
It will also ensure the shipyard stays busy so workers aren’t sitting idle or laid off while they wait for the ocean-science vessel, he added, and allow time for lessons to be absorbed before construction of the second joint support ship.
“This decision makes good sense and is a prime example of how the (national shipbuilding strategy) allows us to be flexible in meeting Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard requirements while finding efficiencies at shipyards.”
Sources say the decision is expected to see the first new support ship delivered earlier than its current 2023 timeline.
That could be bad news for Seaspan’s rival in Quebec, Davie Shipbuilding.
The federal government awarded Davie a $700-million contract in 2015 to convert a civilian container ship into a temporary supply vessel and lease it to the navy for at least five years.
The contract, which is at the heart of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman’s breach-of-trust case, was intended to fill a gap that was created when the navy’s two previous support ships were forced into early retirement in 2015 due to fire and rust.
The Quebec government, Davie and federal opposition parties have been pressuring Ottawa to lease a second ship, at a cost of $500 million, which they say will serve the navy while supporting workers at the shipyard near Quebec City.
Much of the basis for their argument about meeting the navy’s needs has been Seaspan’s constant struggle to meet deadlines and the fact design work on the coast guard’s oceanographic science vessel still isn’t finished.
Davie spokesperson Frederik Boisvert wasted no time Tuesday blasting the decision to prioritize completion of the first joint support ship as going “against common sense” and as “an insult to Canadian taxpayers.”