The investment will help Hamilton’s Heddle Shipyards secure more National Shipbuilding Strategy-related contracts from the federal government over the coming decades. Photo credit: Heddle Shipyards
On Monday, the Ontario government announced it was investing $8.7 million in Heddle Shipyards to launch the Ontario Shipyard Modernization Project.
The funds will be used to purchase state-of-the-art ‘Shipyard 4.0’ technology and upskill Heddle employees in Hamilton, Port Weller, and Thunder Bay.
The new technology will include 3D scanning, robotic welding, robotic blasting and coating, and virtual and augmented reality training equipment.
“The Ontario Shipyard Modernization Project will revolutionize shipyard operations in Ontario and Canada,” said Donna Skelly, MPP for Flamborough-Glanbrook. “It will also be a catalyst to capturing a significant share of federal shipbuilding contracts in the future.”
According to the province, the funding will provide relevant training to more than 300 Heddle employees and 20 apprentices over a 12-month period, preparing them for the increased demand in shipbuilding and repair over the coming decades.
Heddle will also develop partnerships and a standardized curriculum for a ship repair and shipbuilding pilot course with Mohawk College in Hamilton, Niagara College in Welland, and Confederation College in Thunder Bay.
“In the next three decades, the federal government will be spending hundreds of billions of dollars on rebuilding fleets for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard,” said Shaun Padulo, president of Heddle Shipyards.
“It is vital that Heddle and Ontario have a workforce capable of supporting our nation in this monumental task.”
From the mid-1990s to 2010, shipbuilding in Canada effectively ground to a halt, with no substantial new orders to construct vessels for many years. Canada lagged behind comparable countries, with outdated shipyards, no easy access to equipment and supply lines, and a lack of skilled workers.
So, in 2010 the Harper government decided to support a made-in-Canada revitalization of the country’s shipbuilding industry and launched its long-range, five-phase National Shipbuilding Strategy.
The strategy allows the government and shipyards to make significant investments in Canada’s marine industry, developing and maintaining expertise and creating sustainable employment across the country. It brings predictability to federal vessel procurement and aims to eliminate the boom-and-bust cycles that slowed down Canadian shipbuilding in the past.
The first three phases of the strategy – developing the strategy, selecting the shipyards, and establishing relationships with the shipyards – are all complete.
The final two phases – designing the vessels and upgrading shipyards’ infrastructure and constructing the vessels – are both in progress at various locations across the country.
Through the strategy, all large vessel construction exclusively takes place at Irving Shipbuilding Inc. on the east coast and Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltd. on the west coast. All other Canadian shipyards can bid on small vessel construction and repair and maintenance contracts.
As of September 2021, the Government of Canada had awarded approximately $20.87 billion worth of National Shipbuilding Strategy-related contracts across the country.
In all, the contracts created or maintained an estimated 12,000 jobs in the Canadian economy annually from 2012 to 2022.
Per Public Services and Procurement Canada, since 2020 Heddle Shipyards has been awarded over $31 million in federal contracts for small vessel construction and ship repair, refits, and conversions.
