The CCGS Captain Molly Kool is presented to the media after undergoing refit and conversion work at the Davie shipyard in Levis, Que., on Dec. 14, 2018.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
As the Canadian Coast Guard took possession of a new icebreaker at Quebec’s Davie Shipyard on Friday, a Davie official warned that the national shipbuilding strategy could be headed for “disaster.”
Frédérik Boisvert, vice-president of public affairs, said shipyards in British Columbia and Nova Scotia that have won almost all shipbuilding contracts so far are not equipped to handle the work.
“We’re ready to help. We’ve got the capacity,” Mr. Boisvert said. Davie, he said, “could build in parallel six massive ships. The two other shipyards, Seaspan [in Vancouver] and Irving [in Halifax] – they can only do one at a time. So, sincerely, that national strategy might become a bit of a disaster if we’re not leveraged properly.”
The comments cast a cloud over what was billed as a celebration of a milestone for the shipyard across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City: the delivery of the first new icebreaker floated by the coast guard in 25 years. Federal officials announced another $90-million in work for Davie to convert two other icebreakers.
The three ships were bought from Norway in August, at an announced cost of $610-million. Budget documents revealed in November that with tariffs, brokerage fees, engineering work and other costs, the total cost had risen to $827-million.
Mr. Boisvert said the icebreaker contract will bring the work force up to about 260, but that is well below the 1,400 who once worked there. There is a danger of losing expertise, he said.
The ship handed over on Friday has been named the CGCS Captain Molly Kool after the first woman in North America to become a licensed ship captain.
Myrtle (Molly) Kool was born into a family of mariners in Alma, N.B., in 1916 and earned a reputation as a fearless captain transporting cargo on the sometimes treacherous Bay of Fundy.
Ms. Kool, who died in 2009 at age 93, qualified as a captain when she was 23. Her certification led to the addition of the prefix “she” to the Canada Shipping Act, which previously had only referred to mariners as “he.”