$33B Navy Contract: A Three-Way Race in Canada
July 27 is potentially a historic day for Davie Canada, as the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy Secretariat announced that it had accepted the application for a change of bidder received from 7731299 Canada Inc. (Davie Canada) on July 21, 2011. This makes the race for the $33b contract officially a three-way race, with bids from Davie Canada, Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax and B.C.'s Seaspan Marine Corp., owner of Vancouver Shipyards, Vancouver Drydock and Victoria Shipyard. Each shipyard has the backing of their respective provincial governments, all hoping to see thousands of new jobs created as well as billions of dollars invested in economies. One of the shipyards will be chosen to build combat vessels and one to build non-combat ships.
Victoria Shipyard Racks Up Cruise Ship Jobs
First making headlines this past summer, when the Vancouver-based yard performed the emergency pod repair on Celebrity's Infinity, Victoria Shipyards has booked an additional five cruise vessels that are scheduled for routine repairs and drydockings from May 9 through the middle of October. With the departure of Cascade General's Number Four drydock last year to Grand Bahama Island, Victoria has gained a foothold in the realm of West Coast ship repair for cruise vessels that frequent the Alaska and Vancouver areas. According to Malcolm Barker, Victoria's manager of Ship Repair, the yard has scheduled five cruise vessels for the remainder of 2002, beginning with Princess Cruises' Dawn Princess, which will arrive on May 9 for 10 days.
Repair Job Underway at Victoria Shipyard
The Times Colonist reported that repairs started at Victoria Shipyards on a platform used to propel commercial satellites into orbit. The Odyssey Launch Platform is undergoing repairs after a failed mission damaged the vessel in January after 20 consecutive successful launches. The platform, which is 436.6 ft. long or almost one and a half football fields in length, is owned by Sea Launch, an international partnership of four American, Russian, Ukrainian and Norwegian businesses, including Boeing.
Victoria Shipyard Wins BC Ferry Retrofit Contract
BC Ferries announced that Victoria Shipyards has been awarded the $9m contract to perform major modification work on the replacement vessel for the Queen of the North. The vessel, currently named MV Sonia, is being painted in Greece and preparations for its transatlantic crossing are well underway, including engine modifications to enable the use of cleaner-burning marine diesel fuel. On November 15, 2006, a crew of BC Ferries’ employees is scheduled to sail the ship from Greece to British Columbia. En route, she will travel through the Panama Canal and is expected to arrive at Victoria Shipyards in mid-December. The vessel will be renamed and reflagged as a Canadian vessel. It will enter service on BC Ferries’ Port Hardy – Prince Rupert – Queen Charlotte Island routes in April 2007.
Mechanical Problems, Late Deliveries Continue to Plague Industry
A stagnant economy, threat of overcapacity and canceled cruises due to repairs and late deliveries have conspired to slow the hyper-growth cruise industry has enjoyed for the past decade. Even last year's new Millennium, which burst onto the cruise scene with its new gas turbine propulsion, had its share of troubles. Despite unparalleled reassurance by Celebrity that Millennium's propulsion problem was remedied, Infinity, its sistership, which was delivered this past Spring, recently experienced new problems with faulty bearings in its propulsion system — forcing the line to cancel two weeks of sailings. In addition, Celebrity's Galaxy dealt with a damaged propeller, causing lost money and cruises on that vessel.
