Open in full screen mode Six program icebreakers must be built at Chantier Davie, under Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy.
One thing is certain, the six are breaking -program icebreakers, planned to be similar to each other, are to take over from aging Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) vessels used for icebreaking. Several of the vessels currently in service are on track to reach the end of their useful lives within the next 15 years.
The new program icebreakers will replace CCG icebreakers serving the waterways of Atlantic Canada and the St. Lawrence River during the winter , as well as the Arctic during the summer, adds the federal government in its announcement.
These program icebreakers will provide icebreaking services, escort vessels in ice-covered waters and clear ice from ports and docks, which is essential for commercial fisheries.
Source: Chantier Davie
Before launching the construction of icebreakers, Chantier Davie must complete the modernization of its infrastructure in the Lauzon sector. Investments of $840 million were already announced last year. Of the amount, $519 million comes from the provincial government.
Quebec also lent $67 million to help Chantier Davie acquire Helsinki Shipyard Oy, last fall. The Finnish company has 400 employees and has removed almost 60% of the world's icebreaker fleet.
Since 2015, the federal government has invested $2.2 billion in contracts at Davie without it being part of the Naval Strategy for, among other things, the reconversion of icebreakers purchased abroad and the modernization of frigates. /p>
Davie also obtained, in 2019, contracts to build the federal ferries of the Magdalen Islands and Nova Scotia.
In addition to the six icebreakers in the program, Chantier Davie was also promised the construction of the second polar icebreaker in the Canadian fleet, alongside the John F. Diefenbaker . p>
The latter is being built on the other side of the country, at the Seaspan shipyard in Vancouver. A long-time competitor to Chantier Davie, the company unveiled an important milestone last month.
The Seaspan shipyard has built a prototype block to test the new processes and tools needed to work with the ship's special steel, the Canadian Coast Guard announced in February.
This block must guarantee the coast guard a state-of-the-art vessel, capable of navigating the most inhospitable Arctic latitudes. The construction of the prototype block focuses on potential challenges that may be encountered when building using thicker steel.
Open in full screen mode Vancouver-based Seaspan Group is currently developing the first polar icebreaker. (Archive photo)
Chantier Davie should in theory benefit from the innovations made at Seaspan, if Ottawa grants it the construction of the second as planned. According to the Federal Ministry, the general lessons learned from this process will be used throughout the new polar icebreaker program.
The Canadian Coast Guard owns the intellectual property rights to the basic design of the polar icebreaker. This intellectual property will serve as the basis for the construction of the two vessels, indicates Fisheries and Oceans Canada. that of Davie, by 2030. Chantier Davie, for its part, still has no indication of when it will obtain the construction contract for its polar icebreaker.
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