If you build it, they will argue. That seems to be the rule when it comes to building new ships for the sa国际传媒 Ferries fleet. No matter where the ships are built, somebody thinks they should have been built somewhere else. Heated debate has erupted around all of the recent efforts to build bigger ships, especially when Ferries decides to build them in a foreign country.
It鈥檚 happening again, but this time, those who lament sending the work offshore are on shakier ground.
The three intermediate-sized vessels will almost certainly be built outside sa国际传媒. However, this time it won鈥檛 be for cost reasons. This time, sa国际传媒鈥檚 only shipyard in the running 鈥� Seaspan 鈥� has too much work to take the job.
When sa国际传媒 Ferries announced it was in the market for replacements for the Queen of Burnaby and Queen of Nanaimo, plus a third ship as a spare, it dredged up memories of the controversy over the last big ferry purchase in 2004. That was when the newly independent ferry corporation, with David Hahn at the helm, chose Germany鈥檚 Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft to build the big Coastal-class ships.
BCF rejected a bid from Seaspan, the Vancouver shipyard, because Flensburger had an impressive 20-year record of producing ships on time and on budget, and the financial terms were too good to pass up.
Flensburger has a well-developed process that turns out ships efficiently, and the ferry corporation did not think Seaspan was up to the job at that time. The German firm was contracted to build the Coastal Renaissance, Coastal Inspiration, Coastal Celebration and Northern Expedition.
The decision to go offshore angered local industries and unions, who argued the money should be spent in sa国际传媒 to provide jobs for British Columbians and revive the province鈥檚 once-great shipbuilding industry.
While promoting sa国际传媒 jobs is important, sa国际传媒 Ferries is not an economic-development agency. It has to buy the best ships for the best price. Flensburger brought a fresh vision to the job. Unlike the Spirit ships, which could be seen as bigger versions of earlier vessels, the Coastal ferries didn鈥檛 just copy from the past.
This time, nine shipyards from around the world applied to build the intermediate vessels, and from those, the corporation chose five: Seaspan, plus yards in Turkey, Poland, Norway and Germany. The German firm is once again Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft.
The landscape, however, has changed dramatically since 2004. Seaspan has won the contract to build 17 non-combat ships for the federal government, worth about $7.3 billion. Until the first seven ships are finished, it won鈥檛 be able to take on ferries, although it is eager to win the corporation鈥檚 business.
With all the federal work on its plate, Seaspan decided to pull out of the bidding for the intermediate ferries.
The president of the shipyard workers鈥� union said Thursday that he thinks the ferry corporation could have given the work to other yards in sa国际传媒 or sa国际传媒.
However, Seaspan was the only Canadian company approved through the bidding process. sa国际传媒 Ferries could hardly stop everything to go out and find another Canadian firm. And Seaspan wasn鈥檛 rejected; it pulled out because it has a huge contract that will provide an estimated 5,000 direct and indirect jobs for the first 10 years and increase the province鈥檚 gross domestic product by $435 million a year.
The purpose of building in sa国际传媒 is to employ British Columbians and keep the industry alive and growing. That is happening with the federal program.
Seaspan鈥檚 withdrawal is not a sign of trouble; it鈥檚 a sign the shipbuilding industry is springing back to life.
