Seaspan Shipyards says it is committing a $1.35 million investment to increase training and apprenticeship opportunities for Indigenous students aged 19 through 30 interested in building a career in the trades, including in the growing shipbuilding and marine sector. The three-year investment is being made in the Aboriginal Community Career Employment Services Society (ACCESS), a non-profit organization that has been providing education and employment training for the urban Indigenous community since 1999. Seaspan’s investment, which was announced in June, supports skills upgrading and technical training in welding and metal fabrication through the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Beginning in 2022, Seaspan’s investment will also help establish a Trades Sampler Program to introduce Indigenous high school students in five Lower Mainland districts to career opportunities in the trades. Seaspan’s investment…
Vancouver, Wash.-based JT Marine Inc. has completed negotiations with Foss Maritime, resulting in JTM’s acquisition of the Foss Rainier Shipyard in Rainier, Ore. effective Jan. 1, 2021, meaning that JT Marine now has two locations to serve the Pacific Northwest marine community’s needs. “JT Marine Inc. looks forward to restoring the Rainier, OR location to the full-service shipyard that it once was,” the company said in a statement. “JT Marine Inc is looking forward to working closely with the community and workforce of Rainier, Ore.” In other JT Marine news, the company has been awarded a $10 million contract by the U.S. Coast Guard to design and build three mooring docks for the FRC cutter line to be stationed in Bahrain. Two of the docks are designed to be 225…
Seaspan Shipyards has been chosen by the Canadian government to design and build a Polar Icebreaker, the flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard’s icebreaking fleet, as part of the country’s National Shipbuilding Strategy program. The icebreaker, Seaspan’s fourth class of NSS vessel, is to be built at the company’s Vancouver shipyard, Seaspan revealed in early May. The vessel is to be built concurrently with the second Joint Support Ship for the Royal Canadian Navy, one of the largest naval vessels by length ever to be built in Canada, and one of the largest and most advanced ocean science research ships for the Canadian Coast Guard. With Canada’s current largest icebreaker, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, due to retire at the end of the decade after 60 years of service, there’s a…
Canadian shipyard and drydock operator Heddle Shipyards is the newest business to join environmental certification program Green Marine. Heddle Shipyards is one of the first 10 firms in North America to voluntarily participate in the program, which reviews an organization’s sustainability performance for ongoing improvement. “We are determined to continue improving our environmental performance and participating in a rigorous and transparent environmental initiative such as Green Marine complements the sustainable development approach we have adopted,” Heddle Shipyards Health & Safety, Security & Environmental Manager Dan Cummings said. “Green Marine is so pleased to welcome Heddle Shipyards into the Green Marine program, where it can benchmark its progress along with over 70 other U.S. and Canadian terminals and shipyards,” said Executive Director David Bolduc. “Heddle Shipyards is already conveying its genuine…
Vancouver, Wash.-based JT Marine Inc. has completed negotiations with Foss Maritime, resulting in JTM’s acquisition of the Foss Rainier Shipyard in Rainier, Ore. effective Jan. 1, 2021, meaning that JT Marine now has two locations to serve the Pacific Northwest marine community’s needs. “JT Marine Inc. looks forward to restoring the Rainier, OR location to the full-service shipyard that it once was,” the company said in a statement. “JT Marine Inc is looking forward to working closely with the community and workforce of Rainier, Ore.” In other JT Marine news, the company has been awarded a $10 million contract by the U.S. Coast Guard to design and build three mooring docks for the FRC cutter line to be stationed in Bahrain. Two of the docks are designed to be 225…
Shipyards in Alaska, California and Washington will receive grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, the agency announced Monday. They are among a total of 31 U.S. shipyards to score a sum of $19.6 million in grants to be used to upgrade facilities, raise productivity and expand local jobs. The recipients include: JAG Alaska Inc. Seward Shipyard, which netted $639,712 for a 100-ton grove hydraulic crane; Bay City Marine of National City, California, which received $738,990 toward a new mobile crane; Alameda, California-based Bay Ship & Yacht, Co., which garnered $759,419 to buy a mobile crane, welding equipment, and electric boom lifts; Seattle-based Lake Union Drydock Co., which garnered $684,127 to help build a new drydock basin passageway and the acquisition of an additional air compressor, air dryer…
SAAM Towage and a coalition of public and private sector partners on April 10 unveiled the first 100% electric, zero-emission tugboats that are to service clients at the Port of Vancouver starting this spring. “In all the world, there are only a handful of electric tugboats in operation. We’ll now see two of them hard at work in Vancouver’s magnificent harbor,” British Columbia Premier David Eby said. “The reduction in pollution from these electric tugs is the equivalent of taking 600 vehicles off the road.” “Today, we are taking a decisive step into the future,” SAAM’s CEO, Macario Valdés said. “The christening and commissioning of our first electric tugs are proof of our commitment to move towards increasingly sustainable operations, seeking the best solutions tailored to each customer and the…
San Francisco Bay Ferry has secured $3 million in federal funding for its Vallejo Ferry Terminal Reconfiguration Project, which aims to improve service, efficiency, climate change resilience and the rider experience by redesigning and rebuilding the key terminal on the ferry’s most popular route. The funding, which was announced in mid-March is included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, recently passed by Congress and signed by President Biden. Funding for the project was secured via support from Congressman John Garamendi (D), who represents Vallejo, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The Vallejo Ferry Terminal Reconfiguration Project, which has a full estimated price tag of $16 million, would reduce the need for expensive dredging in the Napa River and minimize passenger disruption during tide events, according…
The United Steelworkers Union (USW) on March 12 led a coalition of labor organizations in filing a Section 301 petition, calling on the United States Trade Representative to initiate an investigation into Chinese commercial shipbuilding. “The People’s Republic of China (PRC), over the past two decades, enacted a comprehensive strategy to dominate global transportation and logistics networks, including employing an array of non-market policies. Meanwhile, U.S. shipbuilding capacity continues to diminish,” the USW said in a statement announcing the investigation request. Other unions joining the USW in filing the trade petition include the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO. The USW by itself represents 850,000 workers. A single commercial ship can require…
Vancouver, BC-based consulting naval architectural firm Robert Allan Ltd. announced the end of January that it has delivered the offshore supply vessel ADNOC MD 01 to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in the United Arab Emirates. The first of two sister vessels, ADNOC MD 01 was built by Grandweld Shipyards and designed by Robert Allan Ltd. to support local diving operations in the UAE, according to Robert Allan Ltd. The catamaran is 24.90 meters long, (about 81.7 feet) excluding fenders, with an 8-meter (26.26-foot) molded beam and boasts a pair of Baudouin 12M26.3 main engines, 1030 kW at 2100 rpm and Reintjes WVS 430/1 gearboxes driving four-blade conventional propellers. The vessel, according to RAL, surpassed the design contract speed with a sea trial speed of 19.4 knots. Also among the…
