Dr. Ann Griffiths, 6 May 2021
Once upon a time (i.e., 2011), the Harper government included the construction of one heavy icebreaker into the work schedule of what was then called the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. This icebreaker was to be built at Seaspan in British Columbia. In June 2019, for several reasons, the Trudeau government moved construction of the heavy icebreaker out of Seaspan’s schedule, and in February 2020, the government asked shipyards to compete to build the ship. Today we learned that the federal government will add two icebreakers instead of one to the Coast Guard fleet, and that instead of selecting one shipyard to build the one icebreaker, shipyards in both Quebec and Vancouver will each build one. It’s not necessarily bad news but it’s a bit puzzling.
Link: Vancouver, Quebec shipyards to each get new heavy icebreaker, cost remains a mystery | CTV News
8 thoughts on “New Icebreakers”
Yes, this announcement, although welcomed, is still very puzzling. This is the first we have heard of a “second” Heavy Ice Breaker to be built by both Davies and Seaspan Shipyards. It does however make more sense to have a “fleet” of two instead of just one Polar Ice Breaker for continuity (one in refit the other operational). But the costs for this fleet will surely double from $1.3B to more than likely well over $2.6-3B CAD for both of these vessels. No contracts have even been signed yet, so let’s not put the cart before the horse quite yet. This announcement still has to pass the “politics” test. Still smells a little fishy with a Federal election looming.
I always thought that two heavy Icebreakers was a strict minimum to allow for a decent availability considering crew rest and training and maintenance requirement. I definitely agree that the political reasoning behind this announcement is very particular! It will be interesting to see who will be the prime contractor for this project!
Hello Mikaël. Yes there are always strength in numbers. I had questioned the reasoning before in another post why there were not additional Polar Icebreakers required. It just makes sense and the government seems to have “come around’ to our way of thinking…finally! Yes the fight between Seaspan and Davies Shipyards for ownership of “Prime Contractor” will be interesting but I somehow feel, that it really doesn’t matter. Just get the darn ships built for the CCG and their sailors As Soon As Possible!! Don’t dilly-dally like the government has on the CSC Frigate project.
Hi David,
Yes it is about time we get them built. The design has been ready for about 10 years now. We seriously start talking about a new heavy Icebreaker in 2007 while the USA started talking about it 10 year latter! Guess who gets their new heavy Icebreakers first?
Yes, I can guess and probably be just about on target. The US Coast Guard will more than likely beat Canada to the punch as they have the ability and $$$ to do it.
Hello,
2 (or more?) critical vessels do seem better than 1. With the newest coast guard ship being non-operational on delivery, perhaps the government also wishes to diversify its egg baskets: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/coast-guard-ship-capt-jacques-cartier-behind-schedule-1.6031596
The pattern I simplistically see across our (and the US’) shipbuilding strategy is that we pay premium for not fully-operational equipment that requires refit and repair upon delivery. The fact that DFO seems to be embracing Tesla’s business model and considers it “not unusual for a brand new ship to undergo a refit” is worrisome. Hopefully as the commercial shipbuilding sector picks up and grows over the next decades, this wrinkly pattern will be ironed out. A lot needs to happen in that time to make the sector reliably competent and globally competitive.
Hello,
Is there any updated information on the cost of these? Wiki shows an updated figure from 2013 of ~$1.3 billion for the Diefenbaker but nothing since.
As a point of comparison, Russia’s Rosatomflot just laid down the Project 10510 Leader-class nuclear icebreaker, planned with a 120 MW reactor to sail through 4m ice https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/07/russian-shipyard-lays-down-leader-nuclear-powered-icebreaker/ . What’s interesting is that their Industry and Trade Ministry said that the cost cannot exceed 127.5 billion rubles (~$2.15 billion CAD). Interesting that they set a maximum cost; compare to our moving goal posts on the cost of the CSC program.
Hello Curious Civilian. The PBO now puts the cost of these two Polar 7 class at $7.25B! Shocking!!