Dignitaries gathered at Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyard Monday to celebrate the $2.4-billion contract that will keep the North Shore’s largest employer humming into 2025.
The Department of National Defence announced last month that Seaspan had been awarded the contract to build two joint support ships for the Royal Canadian Navy under the National Shipbuilding Strategy.
National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan was in the North Vancouver shipyard Monday morning to thank Seaspan workers for their completion of offshore fisheries science vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard Service – particularly one during COVID-19 – and to pledge ongoing support and funding for joint support ships.
The first, HMCS Protecteur, is expected to be completed in 2023. At 173.7 metres, it will be the longest ship ever built in Canada when it is complete.
