Two competing Canadian shipyards announced plans to team up to win a multibillion-dollar contract to build a new polar icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard.
A Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards worker walks past a barge under construction in North Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday November 2, 2011. OTTAWA -- Canada's cutthroat shipbuilding industry saw a surprise alliance Tuesday as two competing yards announced plans to team up to win a multibillion-dollar contract to build a new polar icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard.
But the pair now say they believe they can be stronger together, with Seaspan leading the charge for the polar-icebreaker contract and Heddle offering to help it build modules and other components should the Vancouver yard win. The Diefenbaker was originally supposed to have been built by Seaspan along with several other coast guard ships and two naval support ships after Seaspan was selected as one of two shipyards in the federal government's national shipbuilding strategy in 2011.
The Diefenbaker was first announced by Stephen Harper's Conservative government in 2008. When it was awarded to Seaspan in 2011, the cost was pegged at $720 million -- later increased to $1.3 billion -- with delivery expected by 2017. Quebec's Davie shipyard is expected to be the main challenger for the contract after it was the only shipyard to qualify during the reshuffle to build six smaller coast guard icebreakers in what Heddle at the time alleged was a fixed selection process.
"What happened in the past happened in the past," Padulo said. "We just wanted some support and help to become part of the national shipbuilding strategy. It would seem with the relationship we're developing with Seaspan, that is becoming possible."
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