More business could be coming to the Thunder Bay shipyard.
The operator, Heddle Marine, signed an agreement with Seaspan Shipyards in Vancouver. If Seaspan is awarded a contract to build Polar Icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard, the Thunder Bay shipyard will manufacture modules for those ships.
The icebreakers will replace the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, and will be used in the marine trade, resupplying Arctic communities and industries, and carrying out search and rescue operations in the Far North. The Louis S. St-Laurent must be replaced by 2029.
“This partnership with Seaspan Shipyards provides us with a critical opportunity to revitalize the shipbuilding industry in Ontario and Newfoundland by becoming a meaningful partner in the National Shipbuilding Strategy,” says Shaun Padulo, President of Heddle Shipyards. “This in turn will bring long-term jobs and predictability to our highly-skilled workforce at all of our shipyards and to our well-established supply chain.”
