3950
Views

Davie Pre-Qualified as Canada's Third Strategic Shipbuilding Partner

Davie Shipbuilding
Davie Shipbuilding

Published Dec 21, 2019 6:39 PM by The Maritime Executive

The Government of Canada has announced that Davie Shipbuilding has pre-qualified to become its third strategic partner under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). The NSS is a long-term, multi-billion-dollar program to renew the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy fleets.

The NSS’s third yard will build six program icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard.

Davie will now move to the next stage in the selection process, the Request for Proposal and evaluation stage. This will include a third-party assessment of the shipyard’s infrastructure, submission of a formal proposal and a due diligence process to ensure the shipyard is financially capable of performing the work and making any necessary upgrades to its infrastructure. This assessment is similar to the process previously undertaken in 2011 to select Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and Seaspan Shipyards as strategic partners under the NSS.

Once this phase is completed, the Government of Canada will begin negotiations for an umbrella agreement, which is expected to be put in place in late 2020.

Alex Vicefield, Chairman of Davie Shipbuilding said: “Today's historic announcement marks the beginning of a multi-generational program which will span the next three decades and sustain Davie's position as a global leader in the delivery of specialist, mission-critical ships. As the Arctic becomes of increasing global importance, creating a center of excellence for the construction of icebreakers - a highly exportable product - will be of significant economic benefit to the Canadian economy in the years to come.”

James Davies, President and CEO of Davie Shipbuilding added, “We now look forward to getting the over 1,000 workers who were laid off in 2017 back to work as soon as possible.”   

Adding a third shipyard won't affect the projects being undertaken by the other two yards. Irving is building six Arctic and offshore patrol ships (AOPS) and 15 new warships for the Royal Canadian Navy as well as two additional AOPS for the Canadian Coast Guard. Seaspan is building a range of research and support vessels.