sa国际传媒鈥檚 submarine fleet will provide lots of work for Victoria鈥檚 shipyard workers over the coming years, even if it doesn鈥檛 offer much work for submariners.
The four vessels have spent far more time in drydock than anyone anticipated, and now the federal government has announced a five-year extension on the contract for maintaining and upgrading them. With options, it could go to 15 years.
The $531-million extension will mean more work for shipyards on the West Coast, including 200 people in Victoria. Victoria Shipyards will do heavy maintenance work.
The extension is more welcome news for the industry in Victoria, which got a huge boost when Seaspan Marine, owner of Victoria Shipyards and Vancouver Shipyards, won the right to negotiate $8 billion worth of contracts to build large non-combat ships for the navy. Most of the finishing and testing on those ships will be done here.
It鈥檚 well-paid work, with tradespeople commanding wages of $37 an hour. Like the shipbuilding contract, the sub-maintenance deal gives the industry a chance to bring on new people, train them and give them a future.
It鈥檚 unfortunate that much of that future is built on vessels that have been so plagued by problems they have been almost useless in serving the country.
Since 2003, the Department of National Defence says, sa国际传媒鈥檚 submarines have been at sea for a total of 1,131 days. That鈥檚 about 30 days per boat per year. The rest of the time, they are providing work for shipyards.
As a community that benefits every time a ship goes into drydock, we should be thrilled. As taxpayers, we should be horrified.
