Canada Boosts Prospects For Smaller Yards

Procurement will generate opportunities for smaller shipyards and suppliers across Canada. Companies will be invited to bid under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), which is dedicated to the renewal of the fleets of both the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy, while acting as a stimulus to the shipbuilding and allied industries.

In application to the construction of small vessels, one of three pillars of the strategy, the NSS has already resulted in the delivery of 14 search and rescue (SAR) lifeboats and two channel survey/sounding vessels to the Coast Guard.

The major new stage of funding approval for the development of the Coast Guard’s wherewithal could encompass 34 more SAR lifeboats of the Cape-class, four air cushion vehicles, six mid-shore multi-mission vessels, one near-shore fishery research vessel, and 16 special-purpose units (comprising four shallow-water buoy tenders, two navaids vessels, four inshore science craft, four dedicated enforcement vessels, and two lake-class boats).

Chantier Davie (Davie Shipyard) of Levis, Quebec, Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Seaspan Shipyards in Vancouver will not qualify for the bidding on building the small vessels as they are involved in projects for larger vessels under the NSS programme.

Canada’s shipbuilding industry as a whole has entered a period of revival and business expansion in recent years, fuelled by the NSS initiative of 2010. One authoritative source has forecast a 3% increase in overall revenue to some C$2.9bn (US$2.13bn) for 2023.

The first large vessel to be designed and built under the NSS, the 63m offshore fisheries science ship Sir John Franklin, was handed over to the CCG in 2019 by Seaspan Shipyards.