Seaspan Shipyards adapts, pivots and navigates through 2020, responds and works to build and successfully deliver CCGS John Cabot

Seaspan Shipyards adapts, pivots and navigates through 2020 to build and successfully deliver CCGS John Cabot

By Cindy Chan

Seaspan Shipyards completed its third vessel of its first-class ships under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy.

According to Amy MacLeod, vicepresident of corporate affairs for Seaspan Shipyards, the company has been on the west coast of Canada – where the operations base is – for generations. The company has three shipyards. Two are in North Vancouver, B.C., where one is focused on the National Shipbuilding Strategy for Canada, which is the recapitalization of the Canadian fleet; the other yard performs commercial work. The third shipyard is in Victoria, where the Seaspan team works on vessels for the Canadian government and other navies, as well as on maintenance, refit and repair. MacLeod says Seaspan Shipyards currently boasts more than 2,700 employees across all three yards.

“In 2011, Canada announced and selected shipyards for its National Shipbuilding Strategy,” MacLeod explains. “The No. 1 focus is recapitalizing and rebuilding the Canadian fleet, including vessels

for the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard.”

As a result, the Government of Canada selected two shipbuilding partners in Seaspan Shipyards and Irving Shipbuilding on the east coast. Seaspan was awarded the noncombat, large vessel package of work, which includes the three Offshore “It’s a research vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard,” MacLeod says. “The OFSVs are crewed by Coast Guard staff, scientists and fisheries personnel who study the ocean and fisheries stock. It’s a sophisticated floating lab, if you want to think of it that way.” The OFSVs support scientific research through work such as performing fishing and acoustic surveys of fish and invertebrates, collecting information on the abundance and distribution of marine species and collecting data on marine ecosystems and the impacts of human activity on fisheries resources and ecosystem health.

The OFSVs, although primarily focused on science and research, also have the capability to support search and rescue, and environmental response and operations as required.

Seaspan recently completed the third and final OFSV of its class – CCGS John Cabot, which was delivered to the Canadian Coast Guard in October 2020. It’s the third one they delivered in 15 months.

“We launched CCGS John Cabot on July 3 and delivered it on October 9,” MacLeod recalls. “That is a significant accomplishment considering all that had happened during that time with COVID-19.”

Measuring 63.4 metres, CCGS John Cabot is one of the most advanced ships of its size and type in the world. As the third OFSV, she will join her sister ships, CCGS Sir John Franklin and CCGS Capt Jacques Cartier.

MacLeod says 2020 was simultaneously the most successful and challenging year in Seaspan’s recent history, requiring them to deliver a ship in a way they never had before.

“During a global pandemic, we have managed to keep all three yards

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open and operating,” MacLeod says. “Of course, we had to do so very carefully by abiding by all of the safety precautions, making sure, first and foremost, that our staff and employees were safe to come to work and build ships. It has been challenging, and our team has had to adapt, pivot, respond and work in new ways we couldn’t have envisioned on January 1, 2020.”

The Seaspan team rose to the challenge and managed to not only complete and deliver the ship, but to also achieve and exceed worldclass benchmarks. For instance, they finished a substantial amount of the work on the hard stand in the yard – work that is typically accomplished on the water.

“The hallmark for us was the ship entered the water at 95 per cent complete,” MacLeod says. “2020 is the year Seaspan emerged as a modern and mature world-class shipbuilder. That’s something we will reflect on for years to come.” Ü

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