From new military investments to Arctic security and sovereignty, Canada is pouring billions into asserting its presence in the North. In the first instalment of a CTV News series, we go inside a Vancouver shipyard where the country’s future polar Arctic icebreaker is slowly coming together.
VANCOUVER – More than 15 years after Ottawa launched its National Shipbuilding Strategy, Canada’s effort to rebuild the industry is taking shape on the West Coast.
Seaspan’s Vancouver shipyard operates around the clock, with much of the work centred on a massive steel structure that will eventually become Canada’s largest-ever polar icebreaker, the Canadian Coast Guard’s 158-metre, 26,000-tonne Imnaryuaq.
Years of design work and planning are now emerging in steel as workers assemble what will become the future flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Arctic fleet.
“It’s a first-in-class vessel. I’m really proud to be a part of this project,” said welder John Starle. “There’s a sense of pride in what you’re building because it is for Canada.”
The contract for the ship alone is worth more than $4 billion.
When it enters service in the early 2030s, the vessel will provide capabilities Canada does not currently have, allowing the coast guard to operate farther north, break through thicker ice and maintain a greater presence in the High Arctic.
“This is huge,” said Jessica Fetterman, Seaspan’s chief engineer for the polar icebreaker project.
“We only build icebreakers in North America once every 40, 50 or 60 years, so this is groundbreaking.”
Fetterman said the ship will be capable of breaking through 2.5 metres of ice and 30 centimetres of compacted snow, nearly three metres in total, while maintaining a speed of three knots for up to 1,800 kilometres without stopping.
Decades of decline in Canada’s shipbuilding industry, combined with aging fleets in the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard, prompted Ottawa to launch the National Shipbuilding Strategy in 2010.
The strategy’s first major vessel was delivered in 2020. Since then, 11 large ships have been designed in Canada, with most building taking place in Canada.
“The strategic question was whether you buy these ships from another country or try to build them here,” said Dave Hargreaves, Seaspan’s vice-president of strategy and business development.
“The decision was made to build them here, and that has enabled Canada to develop the capability not only to build ships, but to design them as well.”
Seaspan has delivered four vessels under the strategy so far. Two more are under construction, along with the company’s largest and most ambitious project to date, the Imnaryuaq. Seaspan is partnering with a Finnish company on the construction of the Imnaryuaq.
The vessel remains years from completion, but at 158 metres long and 26,000 tonnes, it is expected to become the largest ship in the Canadian Coast Guard’s Arctic fleet.
For workers such as Starle, the polar project, and the other ships, that have been ordered represents long-term employment.
“There’s a lot of longevity here,” he said. “With the contracts we already have and the ones that are coming, there’s an immense amount of work ahead.”
Seaspan is not the only company involved in Canada’s shipbuilding strategy. Chantier Davie Canada Inc., located in Lévis, Que., has been awarded a separate contract valued at more than $3 billion to build another polar icebreaker that will be named the CCGS Arpatuuq.
The federal government also announced last month that Chantier Davie will lead the construction of six program icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard, which will help maintain year-round trade in Eastern Canada.
That contract is valued at $11.3 billion and is expected to create nearly 5,000 jobs during the construction phase that is set to begin in 2027.
