Procrustes, 05 July 2020. There has been a longstanding debate in Canada about the extra costs (i.e., the ‘domestic premium’) for building warships in Canada. Certainly the best exponent of the view that this premium is minimal and that comparing Canadian prices with the ship prices of foreign suppliers is […]
Canadian Shipbuilding
90 posts
It is usually a long process to procure new warships for the Royal Canadian Navy. Warships are both complex and expensive, so there are legitimate concerns about efficient use of taxpayer money. It should be noted that lengthy procurement processes do not just apply to warships - the Canadian Air […]
On June 10, the Joint Support Ship (JSS) Build Contract was awarded to Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards Ltd. (VSY). This $2.4-billion contract will undertake the full construction phase for the replacement of the RCN’s two, previously decommissioned, Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment (AOR) vessels. The award directly supports both a significant Strong Secure […]
The National Shipbuilding (Procurement) Strategy (NSS) to build ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard was announced in 2010. That’s 10 years ago. So where are the ships? Some have been built but, as we’re learning, it takes a long time from the announcement that a […]
Procrustes, 08 June 2020. This is further to my earlier post about NSS contracts. An early unpublished, but apparently widely circulated, 2015 Price Waterhouse Cooper study concluded that these types of contracts create ‘perverse incentives’ for shipbuilders to drive up their labour costs to maximize their profits. It is worth […]
Procrustes, 08 June 2020. Shipbuilding contracts generally tend to be shrouded in mystery, and normally stir few passions. However, Canadians deserve slightly more information than they are receiving about the contracting procedures governing the NSS. What do we need to know? What types of contracts are being used? What is […]
Procrustes, 30 May 2020. Here is a brief background of the Alion complaint. Alion was one of the 12 pre-qualified Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) bidders, and one of the three companies which actually submitted a bid. On 19 October 2018, Lockheed Martin Canada Inc (LMC) was selected as the Preferred […]
Trevor Wekel, 30 May 2020. As a proud Canadian, I am saddened by the state of our Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard. Years of neglect have led to difficult times for our men and women in uniform. Our navy has access to a single resupply ship, Naval Replenishment Unit […]
If you don’t live near an ocean – and most Canadians don’t – you could live your whole life without ever seeing a warship. So why, you may ask yourself, does Canada need a navy? There are many reasons. Navies play three general roles – diplomacy, constabulary and defence. Canada […]
There has been much talk over the years about problems in the process of procuring military assets. Procuring ships for the navy, in particular, receives attention because of the size of the project budgets, and the rarity of ships getting built. If the government procures ships every 20 years, whatever […]