Seaspan-owned Vancouver Shipyards on Nov. 6 officially
celebrated the completion of a two-year, $170 million shipyard modernization project.
The project, funded entirely by coastal transport company Seaspan
Marine Corp., transformed Vancouver Shipyards into one of the most modern
facilities in North America, and is expected to allow for the effective and
efficient delivery of vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian
Navy.
The new facilities include Canada’s largest permanent gantry
crane, four new fabrication buildings and a new load-out pier.
“We have built a state-of-the-art shipyard right here in
North Vancouver, tailor-made to support Seaspan’s role as the non-combat
capability provider to the Government of Canada’s National Shipbuilding
Procurement Strategy,” Seaspan CEO Jonathan Whitworth said.
The completion of the modernization project coincides with
the commencement of construction on two initial blocks for the first ship, the
Canadian Coast Guard’s Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel, slated for completion
by the summer of 2016.
“We have begun our work for the Canadian Coast Guard on the
initial blocks of the first Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel,” Seaspan
Shipyards President Brian Carter said. “We estimate the new vessel construction
work we will do for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy will
result in the creation of 5,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs over the next
20 years, produce almost $500 million per year in gross domestic product for
B.C.’s economy, and mean thousands of people will get the opportunity for an
exciting career in shipbuilding.”
Once full production on the new vessels commences in the spring
of 2015, Seaspan says, it will also create stable work over the next decade for
suppliers throughout British Columbia and across Canada.
In addition to the Vancouver Shipyards project, Seaspan has
invested an additional $15 million to upgrade facilities at Victoria Shipyards.
Work, which includes a new operations center to support testing, trials and
commissioning of the new federal vessels, is expected to be complete by the end
of 2014.
