[amor de cosmos]

Seaspan launches $200-million shipyard upgrade
Infrastructure investment paves way for $8 billion worth of new vessels
By Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun October 20, 2012

Seaspan kicked off a $200-million upgrade to its North Vancouver shipyard Friday, saying that the redevelopment will launch the rebirth of the West Coast shipbuilding industry.

The shipyard infrastructure investment marks the first major expenditure in B.C. related to the federal National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. Seaspan landed the $8-billion federal procurement contract a year ago Friday.

Seaspan will build seven vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy under the contract.

Seaspan president Jonathan Whitworth said the construction project alone will require 150 workers. Seaspan expects the actual shipbuilding project to swell the employment ranks at the North Vancouver site from 200 to 1,200 by 2016, providing stable work over the next decade for shipbuilders on the North Shore.

At a groundbreaking ceremony at the shipyard, called Vancouver Shipyard, Whitworth described the contract as "a true game-changer for the shipbuilding industry."

http://www.vancouversun.com/business...454/story.html

Seaspan kicks off billion-dollar B.C. shipyard project with infrastructure construction
By Carla Wilson, Times Colonist October 19, 2012

Seaspan Marine Corp. kicked off $200 million worth of infrastructure construction work this morning, one year to the day the B.C. shipyard won the right to negotiate $8 billion worth of non-combat ships for the federal government.

Company staff and federal and provincial officials were at the Seaspan’s North Vancouver shipyard for the groundbreaking ceremony to launch the upgrading program required to carry out the federal work.

Work will start later, at a date still to be set, at Seaspan’s Victoria Shipyards in Esquimalt, where upgrading will include construction of a multi-purpose building to be used for commissioning and trials of new federal ships.

Facilities improvement was part of Seaspan’s bid to win the non-combat portion of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. Irving Shipbuilding, of Nova Scotia, won the $25-billion combat package.

Seaspan expects shipbuilding to begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2013. Three offshore fisheries science vessels, one offshore oceanographic science vessel, one Polar icebreaker, and two joint support ships are planned.

The vast majority of the $200 million going to facilities upgrading will be spent in this province, said Jonathan Whitworth, Seaspan chief executive officer.

“The beginning of construction at our shipyard marks the rebirth of a once thriving shipbuilding business on the BC Coast,” he said.
“Not only are we building a world-class shipyard in North Vancouver, we’re looking forward to revitalizing the ship construction business and to training and growing our workforce by an additional 1,000 employees over the next three years.”

About 60 large contracts will be tendered, he said. Most will in the range of $5 million and $10 million, with one more than $20 million.

Key additions will be four new fabrication buildings, a shipbuilding gantry crane, and a load-out pier. Three buildings will be relocated, existing infrastructure will be upgraded, and about $20 million will be spent on new equipment and tools, Whitworth said.

More than 1,000 tonnes of steel and more than 10,000 cubic metres of concrete will be used, he said.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sea...487/story.html