Constructing the CCG Hero class [Merged]

[Colin Parkinson]

looks like they just used her to save shipping costs

 

[Uzlu]

Used icebreakers to cost more than advertised: documents

OTTAWA — The federal government is planning to spend at least $827 million on three used icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard — 30 per cent more than advertised.

In August, the government said the three icebreakers would cost $610 million when it announced its plan to buy them from Quebec-based Davie Shipyard without a competition.

Officials say the additional $217 million, revealed in new budget documents, will cover tariffs, brokerage fees, engineering work and other costs to get the vessels up and running.

The icebreakers, billed as a stopgap but which officials have admitted will be used for up to 20 years, are only the latest vessels that will cost the government more than expected.

The Defence Department revealed last week that the federal government will pay $800 million to build a sixth Arctic patrol vessel at Irving Shipyards in Halifax, which is twice as much as each of the other five vessels cost.

Officials are also reviewing the costs of several other shipbuilding projects in Halifax and Vancouver, including new science vessels for the coast guard.

https://ipolitics.ca/2018/11/13/used-icebreakers-to-cost-more-than-advertised-documents/

 

[MarkOttawa]

Earlier:

Purchase of three icebreakers turns Canada's August trade surplus into a deficit

The summertime purchase of three ships from Sweden has wiped out Canada's healthy trade surplus for August and replaced it with a deficit, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The agency made the revision to the August trade figures as it accounted for a $600-million acquisition of three icebreakers late in the month.

The $526-million trade surplus initially reported for August now shows a $551-million deficit. The change represents a swing in the trade balance of more than $1 billion.

Behind the August revision was a $981-million increase in Canada's imports.

"Most of this revision was due to the import of three high value ships, which were reported after the publication of August data," the agency said of the transaction, which on its own added $598 million to the monthly import number.

"Three icebreakers were imported from Sweden at the end of August."

Statistics Canada says smaller revisions to the monthly numbers are common because purchases sometimes come in after the publication of the data. The agency also made upward revisions in August in other categories, including about $100 million for crude oil imports and $100 million for imports of aircraft-related goods.

Last month, the Canadian Coast Guard said three interim icebreakers had been purchased for use over the next 15 to 20 years. The government agreed to buy three used icebreakers from Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding for $610 million.

On average, the existing coast guard ships are more than 35 years old and have lost hundreds of operational days over the past few years due to mechanical breakdowns...
https://www.estevanmercury.ca/purchase-of-three-icebreakers-turns-canada-s-august-trade-surplus-into-a-deficit-1.23484863

Mark
Ottawa

 

[garb811]

Police confirm vandalism after Coast Guard ship tumbled into water in N.S.

A Canadian Coast Guard ship is partially submerged in water at a shipyard in Sambro, N.S., after falling from its secured cradle in a case Halifax police are investigating as suspected vandalism.

The Coast Guard tweeted late Saturday morning that the CCGS Corporal McLaren had released from the cradle at the shipyard and then slid down the slip into the water.

The vessel is at the shipyard for a refit.
...

 

[blacktriangle]

CCGS Corporal McLaren M.M.V.

I'll be interested to see the motivation behind this. I hope they catch and throw the book at whoever was involved.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Progress from Davie:

Canadian Coast Guard prepares for first Chantier Davie icebreaker

he first of three icebreakers converted by shipbuilder Chantier Davie is scheduled to enter the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) service by the beginning of December.

The ex-Vidar Viking icebreaker was floated out of Davie's Champlain drydock on 13 November with a fresh coat of paint in CCG colours.

The Canadian government originally announced the CAD610 million (USD462 million) contract on 10 August after concluding Davie’s proposal to convert three civilian medium icebreakers would meet the CCG’s urgent capability gap.

“The conversion works on the first icebreaker have been minimal – mostly painting – since this vessel needs to begin operations soon for the upcoming icebreaking season to add immediate capability to the Canadian Cost Guard,” Frédérik Boisvert, vice-president of Public Affairs for Chantier Davie, told Jane’s .
https://www.janes.com/article/84829/canadian-coast-guard-prepares-for-first-chantier-davie-icebreaker

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Paint, a few secure radio's and mandated bilingual manuals and posters regarding the use of gender specific pronouns. Plus ring posts in the officer cabins so the graduates of the college can put their ring there at night.
 

 

[CBH99]

I know most of the work being done is painting & ensuring all systems are working properly, but Davie really is doing an excellent job on their PR.

If I remember correctly, MV Asterix was slightly ahead of schedule & on budget.  And now, they'll have an operational ice breaker going to the CCG shortly after the contract was announced, and right when the CCG needs one.


While they don't have the same challenges as Irving in terms of designing & building brand new ships from scratch (AOPS) -- they've done an excellent job on the PR front as being efficient & able to fulfill contracts without the major BS delays & constant complaining from Irving. 

 

[Stoker]

I know most of the work being done is painting & ensuring all systems are working properly, but Davie really is doing an excellent job on their PR.

If I remember correctly, MV Asterix was slightly ahead of schedule & on budget.  And now, they'll have an operational ice breaker going to the CCG shortly after the contract was announced, and right when the CCG needs one.


While they don't have the same challenges as Irving in terms of designing & building brand new ships from scratch (AOPS) -- they've done an excellent job on the PR front as being efficient & able to fulfill contracts without the major BS delays & constant complaining from Irving.

Yes because any screw up will jeopardize further work. The reason why Asterix was on-time was that a major section (accommodations) was built offshore in Finland.

 

[dapaterson]

So.. you're saying that if we want it on time and on budget, we should buy offshore?

 

[Stoker]

So.. you're saying that if we want it on time and on budget, we should buy offshore?

Sure....., politically it will never happen

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

So.. you're saying that if we want it on time and on budget, we should buy offshore?

No. What the Chief is saying is that when it comes to anything Davie Shipbuilding, he has a burr up his ... proverbial. That's OK! I've got the same burr in reverse ... against most Irving products and in favour of Davie. To each his own!

However, the accommodation block was NOT a major section. It represented only 15% of the overall work. And if you consider then that it needs to be built in Finland, then moved to a barge and slowly towed to Canada over a near four weeks period, you wonder what time saving there was.

In fact the time saving had nothing to do with the actual type of work but with the fact that the Finnish company who assembles those accommodation modules for inside the block has developed a technique that is used in the cruise ship building industry. That Finnish company agreed (and has since acted accordingly) to open a plant on the Davie premises to build such accommodation modules in North America and transfer the technological knowledge to local workers.

As it turns out, building the facility in Levis, then selecting and training a full North American crew then doing the job would have exceeded the timeline.So, it was decided that the module would be built at there Finnish company facility, with 50% Quebec labourers on the job there to learn the technique and bring it back home. It was not major nor was it because otherwise it would be "impossible" to do it on time and within budget.

Right now, the accommodation subsidiary company is operating in Quebec, at a low rate granted, but still, and if the government had picked up building Obelix, her accommodation block would have been built, just as fast, in Levis, and without the extra delay of towing it to Canada. 

 

[Stoker]

No. What the Chief is saying is that when it comes to anything Davie Shipbuilding, he has a burr up his ... proverbial. That's OK! I've got the same burr in reverse ... against most Irving products and in favour of Davie. To each his own!

However, the accommodation block was NOT a major section. It represented only 15% of the overall work. And if you consider then that it needs to be built in Finland, then moved to a barge and slowly towed to Canada over a near four weeks period, you wonder what time saving there was.

In fact the time saving had nothing to do with the actual type of work but with the fact that the Finnish company who assembles those accommodation modules for inside the block has developed a technique that is used in the cruise ship building industry. That Finnish company agreed (and has since acted accordingly) to open a plant on the Davie premises to build such accommodation modules in North America and transfer the technological knowledge to local workers.

As it turns out, building the facility in Levis, then selecting and training a full North American crew then doing the job would have exceeded the timeline.So, it was decided that the module would be built at there Finnish company facility, with 50% Quebec labourers on the job there to learn the technique and bring it back home. It was not major nor was it because otherwise it would be "impossible" to do it on time and within budget.

Right now, the accommodation subsidiary company is operating in Quebec, at a low rate granted, but still, and if the government had picked up building Obelix, her accommodation block would have been built, just as fast, in Levis, and without the extra delay of towing it to Canada.

Wow I figured it wouldn't take long for you to chime in and thanks for putting words in my mouth. For the record Asterix seems to be doing fine and brings an outstanding capability to the RCN. As for a burr up my a** in regards to Davie, I have a similar stance on Irving as they have similar problems however Irving is actually building ships and to my knowledge we never had to steal a warship from Irving due to a labour dispute, I know that's ancient history but figured I'd mention it anyways as the yard often mentions its shipbuilding history.

15% of the overall project is not considered "major"?, although for something that's supposedly not considered major the company certainly made much about it with the amount of pictures of accommodations, galley, gym etc. I don't dispute what you said about Quebec workers being used or the Finnish company opening a facility in Quebec for future builds as it makes sense.

From Spencer Fraser CEO of Federal Fleet Services.

"The simple fact about it was that had the work been done in Quebec it would have added up to a year to the delivery date.

Potentially, the work could have been in Canada, Fraser says, but it would have meant a delay of almost a year in getting the converted ship into service.

"We don't start getting paid until the ship is delivered and we have a hard delivery date for commencement of service in the fall of 2017," Fraser said in an interview with CBC News.

"The main driver of this project is giving the capacity of a refueller to the navy as quickly as possible."

He said it has cost his company more to source the work offshore, but there was no choice given that the Davie yard had other projects underway."


As for the accommodation's module not being major.

"Retired rear admiral Pat Finn, the head of military procurement, told the House of Commons defence committee earlier this month that a major piece of the structure "has been built in Scandinavia" and will be brought over and attached to the ship in the spring."

Sure what does he know

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/leased-navy-ship-1.3909874

End of the day the ship was delivered just before Christmas but the article mentions a hard delivery date of commencement of service of Fall 2017.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Meanwhile USCG waiting/hoping for congressional funding:

Coast Guard Commandant Optimistic About Icebreaker Funding

The United States may soon get funding for a new heavy icebreaker ship, the head of the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday [Dec. 6], as global warming spurs the race to stake out the Arctic, which is rich in oil, gas, and minerals.

The United States has two operational icebreakers - a heavy one, the Polar Star, which is more than 42 years old and has outlived its life expectancy by a dozen years, and a medium one, the Healy cutter.

By comparison, Russia has about 40 to 50 icebreakers, purpose-built vessels that can rescue other ships, supply bases, and reach oil spills in harsh polar conditions.

"I'm guardedly optimistic funding for that first polar security cutter is going to be there," Commandant Karl Schultz said at a National Press Club event.

Icebreakers support scientific missions and operate in the Arctic and Antarctic, which hold vast natural gas, oil, mineral, fish, and fresh water resources, Schultz said.

While Washington participates in several forums on Arctic security and cooperation, such as the Arctic Council, it also needs to ensure it has the necessary equipment, he said. China early this year declared itself a "Near Arctic State," outlined how it believed the region should be developed, and is expanding its icebreaker fleet.

"Diplomacy and cooperation are really hollow or shallow without presence," Schultz said, adding that the country needs a minimum of six icebreakers, which can cost about $1 billion each and take up to 10 years to build [emphasis added]. "If we're not present, if we don't own the environment today, guess who owns it tomorrow - our competitors."

While President Donald Trump's administration has budgeted $750 million for an icebreaker, it is not certain whether the funding will survive in Congress, which is also looking for ways to fund the border wall with Mexico, among other items [emphasis added].

The Coast Guard is part of Homeland Security, one of several departments that have not been funded for the 2019 budget. Congress is expected to consider a $450 billion bill, before stopgap funding expires on Dec. 21, to fund the agencies through the fiscal year that ends next Sept. 30.
https://www.marinelink.com/news/coast-guard-commandant-optimistic-460484

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Headline of official news release says it all--several gov'ts to bleam:

Canadian Coast Guard adds to its icebreaker fleet for first time in twenty five years

December 14, 2018

Lévis, Quebec - Our Canadian waterways play a crucial role in our culture, history, and economy. Keeping these waterways safe and open for business is a priority for the Government of Canada. This is why we are ensuring that the Canadian Coast Guard is properly equipped for the important work it carries out on a daily basis in keeping Canadians and our Canadian waters safe.

Today, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility, the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, and the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for Louis-Hébert, Joël Lightbound, announced that the first of the three medium icebreakers recently built by Chantier Davie for the Canadian Coast Guard will be named CCGS Captain Molly Kool. The expertise and the talent of Chantier Davie workers were in the limelight during that event, which highlighted the first floating of a Coast Guard icebreaker in twenty-five years.

The Ministers and the Parliamentary Secretary have seized the opportunity to visit the shipyard and to meet the workers, in order to reiterate the importance of Chantier Davie for the Canadian shipbuilding industry.

All three medium icebreakers, recently acquired by the Coast Guard, will undergo refit and conversion work at Chantier Davie in Lévis, Québec, to ensure they comply with Canadian regulatory and Coast Guard operational standards before entering the fleet.

The first ship will allow the Coast Guard to provide essential services during the upcoming winter season, while the other two undergo refit projects.

The namesake of the icebreaker, Captain Myrtle ‘Molly’ Kool, was the first woman in North America to become a master mariner. Myrtle Kool, known by everyone as Molly, was born in 1916 in Alma, New Brunswick. In 1937, she was the first woman in North America to become a licensed ship captain, and in 1939, was awarded her coastal master’s certificate.

CCGS Captain Molly Kool is part of the national Coast Guard fleet which carries out icebreaking duties in Atlantic Canada, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, and Arctic regions. This icebreaker is the latest Coast Guard asset deployed to help ensure the safety of Canadian waterways and those who rely on them, both for recreational and commercial purposes...

Quick facts

    CCGS Captain Molly Kool measures 93.7 metres in length, and has a beam of 18 metres. It is classified as a medium icebreaker, and can maintain a speed of 3 knots through ice up to 1 metre thick.

    In addition to icebreaking, the ship will support other Coast Guard programs, such as Search and Rescue and Environmental Response.

    Icebreakers are crucial to Coast Guard services, the safety of mariners, protection of coastal waters, and efficient transport of people and goods through Canada’s waterways.

Related products

    Backgrounder – Captain Molly Kool
    Backgrounder- Icebreaker specifications
...
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-coast-guard/news/2018/12/the-government-of-canada-reaffirms-its-commitment-to-davie-and-its-workers.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Just saw pictures on CTV News. She sure looks good in Coast Guard livery.

 

[Cariboo trout]

My first post on this site, and after over a decade lurking I need to jump in (and register  :christmas happy)**

These are excellent vessels and will serve us well over the years.

My issue is with the staggering overall cost of three surplus offshore AHT that on the open market could have been picked up for 60 mill. US for the set. I have seen some very nice examples sitting idle in Bergen harbour, and envisioned the CCG picking out a few to use as a stopgap until new builds could come on line from Canadian yards - whenever THAT would come to fruition.

My initial thoughts were - thank goodness someone in the government has some brains to pick these up cheap and get them into service. Alas, my dream/ figment has been once again crushed. C 800 million !! This stinks.

** my background/ career was in deep sea commercial operations - now retired. I have been involved in the planning, cost and build timing of handy size chemical tankers for a Canadian corporation (before my great escape  ;D)

Cheers
Logan

 

[Uzlu]

Storied Coast Guard ship can’t be fixed, shipyard says, highlighting yet again, Canada’s shipbuilding problem

A Quebec shipyard hopeful of getting more federal work has condemned a storied Coast Guard ship as beyond repair, declining to bid on a lucrative contract to overhaul the 56-year-old CCGS Hudson on the grounds that it “presents a serious and real threat to the safety of life at sea.”

In a letter delivered Tuesday to officials with Public Services and Procurement Canada, Davie CEO Jared Newcombe said his company, based in Lévis, Que., would not bid on the contract to upgrade the Hudson as Davie believes the vessel to be beyond repair. A copy of that letter was provided to Global News.

The federal government was trying to squeeze another few years of service out of the Hudson which, having been commissioned in 1963, is the oldest ship in the Coast Guard’s fleet. Bidding on the life-extension contract, expected to be worth about $20 million, ended this week.

It is the latest headache to bedevil a federal shipbuilding process that has been rife with delays. Davie’s remarkable letter — procurement experts cannot recall a bidder ever recommending scrapping a major vessel when offered a chance to upgrade it — underscores the difficulties successive federal governments have had in updating an aging Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy fleet.

“The Coast Guard ships are in serious need of replacement now,” said David Perry, a defence procurement expert and senior analyst at the Ottawa-based think tank, the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The average service of a Coast Guard ship is about 36 years. Canada’s Maritime peers typically replace their Coast Guard vessels within 30 years of service.

The Harper government announced in 2007 that the Hudson was to be replaced by 2012 and the contract to replace her was awarded to Vancouver’s Seaspan shipyard. But that project is mired in delays and it is not clear when there will be a replacement. There is not yet a confirmed date for construction to start while the projected budget of $331 million to build the Hudson’s replacement is under review.

The Hudson did have a $4-million refit in Hamilton, Ont., in 2016, and has had more work done on it since it returned to its East Coast port in Dartmouth, N.S., in 2017.

But Davie told the government that, in its view, the Hudson has now reached the end of the line.

“The level of degradation to the hull, fuel tanks, onboard systems and other structural elements presents a serious and real threat to the safety of life at sea as well as the environment,” Newcombe wrote. Newcombe said his company had to consider its own liability should it have won the current life extension contract, “as well as ethical, repetitional and environmental considerations.”

Public Services and Procurement Canada, the federal government department handling the work, has not replied to questions put to it early Thursday about Davie’s assessment of the Hudson’s condition.

The CBC reported last fall, citing documents it obtained under the federal Access to Information Act, that after reviewing the work done on the Hudson in 2016, an unnamed official with Lloyd’s Register, the maritime classification society based in the U.K., wrote, “There is no reason why the vessel should not continue to operate for another 5-10 years.”

The Hudson has a distinguished place in Canada’s Maritime history as a science and exploration vessel. Built in Saint John and launched in 1963, it became the first ship to ever circumnavigate North and South America, a voyage it completed from 1969 to 1970. It has also assisted in search-and-rescue operations in its long career.

Most recently, between Aug. 17 and Sept. 10 last year, it charted marine geohazards and natural seeps off southeastern Baffin Island, Nunavut.

But the scientific report published by Natural Resources Canada about that journey noted that there were problems with the ship. On its second day out of port, as it was travelling up the west coast of Newfoundland, for example, two of its engines developed problems. The problem with one engine was resolved but the other was out of action for the rest of the cruise.

The Coast Guard’s fleet problem could turn into an election issue. Davie and its supporters believe one solution to Canada’s aging fleets is to get more shipyards into action building new ships. Most of the work to build new navy and Coast Guard ships was awarded to Irving, based in Halifax, and to Seaspan, based in Vancouver.

Davie is located in a riding held by Conservative Steven Blaney, a former Harper-era cabinet minister, while the other shipyards are in Liberal territory. Politics has never been far from Canada’s shipbuilding policy with shipyards and their backers routinely conscripting political parties to push their agenda.

Indeed, one of the issues bubbling beneath the surface of the ongoing trial of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman are ties between the Irving family, owner of the Halifax shipyard and senior Liberal cabinet ministers Scott Brison and Dominic Leblanc.

A group of suppliers to the Davie Shipyard recently released a 10-minute video sharply critical not only of Canada’s shipbuilding strategy but also of Davie’s rivals, Irving and Seaspan.

The Hudson is one of five Coast Guard ships built in the 1960s, the most notable of which may be the heavy icebreaker CCGS Louis St. Laurent built in 1969.

The Hudson is one of two offshore oceanographic science vessels the Coast Guard operates. The other is CCGS John P. Tully, commissioned in 1984 and based out of Victoria.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4884924/coast-guard-ship-cant-be-fixed-canada-shipbuilding-problem/

 

[Stoker]

https://globalnews.ca/news/4884924/coast-guard-ship-cant-be-fixed-canada-shipbuilding-problem/

Just another calculated ploy by Davie to get more work. If Lloyd’s says the ship's life can be stretched out a few more years then I would believe them. They are not in the business to make false claims.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Reprise of 2016 post, based on report for Transport Canada:

Canadian Coast Guard Going Down

Our politicians and media largely ignore–unlike their constant focus on military procurements–our mostly silent (civilian) service, to its great detriment. Now the awful facts described in a major government report tabled in February are reported:

    "Report raises alarm over Canada’s aging coast guard fleet
    Review for Transport Canada calls for urgent renewal of ships that are among oldest in the world..."
https://mark3ds.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/mark-collins-canadian-coast-guard-going-down/

Mark
Ottawa