B.C. backs Seaspan's federal shipbuilding bid with $60 million
Vancouver-based Seaspan Marine's bid for the federal government's $35-billion National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy contains up to $60 million in support for the overall marine industry from the province and BC Ferries, Minister of Jobs and Tourism Pat Bell revealed Monday, Vancouversun reports.
It will come in the form of up to $35 million in training and labour tax credits from the province over the 30-year lifespan of the project, depending on which of two contracts Seaspan might win, another $5 million in support for productivity-related initiatives for the industry and $20 million to the industry from BC Ferries to help increase the capacity of B.C.'s ship repair and maintenance sector.
The tax credits are similar to incentives the province has offered to B.C.'s film industry and the oil and gas sector, Bell said, and are designed to support the industry as a whole, should Seaspan win one of the two contracts.
"It trains people, it addresses the key initiatives in the [federal] bid that the federal government is going to be evaluating, and I think it gives us our best possible chance at being successful," Bell added.
Almost eight years after BC Ferries ruled out Seaspan's parent company as a bidder for its $542-million Super-C Class ferry construction program as being uncompetitive with the German shipyard Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellshaft, the corporation is throwing its financial support behind Seaspan's bid for naval and coast guard vessels.
"Nothing will help B.C.'s marine sector better than by securing a long-term federal shipbuilding contract," BC Ferries CEO David Hahn said in a news release.
Seaspan CEO Jonathan Whitworth added that Hahn's support now is a more important factor than BC Ferries' earlier decision, and the overall package is appropriate assistance.
"It's the support we were looking for," Whitworth said, which "shows the province wasn't just behind us in words, there's financial support there [too]."
He added that Seaspan is also prepared to spend up to $160 million modernizing its facilities for the bid.
Bell said he revealed details of the proposed assistance Monday, five days after bids for the ship-procurement-program closed, because he didn't want to tip off B.C.'s competitors if the program's details were released sooner.
He added that he now has faith in the federal government's promise that the process of evaluating bids will remain free of political interference, though he vowed B.C. would "hold them to account" in the assessment of the other bids.
Nova Scotia's Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and Quebec's Davie Yards, in partnership with SNC Lavalin and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, are the other bidders for the two packages, one for a $25-million roster of naval vessels, the other for a list of coast guard ships and fisheries vessels.
The Quebec government has confirmed it is backing the bid of Davie Yards with a $19-million loan, on top of $27 million already offered to prop up the company through a last-minute purchase by Upper Lakes Group that rescued it from bankruptcy.
Nova Scotia has put together a Ships Start Here partnership for Irving Shipbuilding Inc.'s bid.
Seaspan is aiming for the larger, $25-billion portion of the strategy to build combat and support ships for the Canadian Navy, which Whitworth said would carry an economic effect equivalent to hosting the Winter Olympics every two-tothree years over the next three decades.
It will come in the form of up to $35 million in training and labour tax credits from the province over the 30-year lifespan of the project, depending on which of two contracts Seaspan might win, another $5 million in support for productivity-related initiatives for the industry and $20 million to the industry from BC Ferries to help increase the capacity of B.C.'s ship repair and maintenance sector.
The tax credits are similar to incentives the province has offered to B.C.'s film industry and the oil and gas sector, Bell said, and are designed to support the industry as a whole, should Seaspan win one of the two contracts.
"It trains people, it addresses the key initiatives in the [federal] bid that the federal government is going to be evaluating, and I think it gives us our best possible chance at being successful," Bell added.
Almost eight years after BC Ferries ruled out Seaspan's parent company as a bidder for its $542-million Super-C Class ferry construction program as being uncompetitive with the German shipyard Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellshaft, the corporation is throwing its financial support behind Seaspan's bid for naval and coast guard vessels.
"Nothing will help B.C.'s marine sector better than by securing a long-term federal shipbuilding contract," BC Ferries CEO David Hahn said in a news release.
Seaspan CEO Jonathan Whitworth added that Hahn's support now is a more important factor than BC Ferries' earlier decision, and the overall package is appropriate assistance.
"It's the support we were looking for," Whitworth said, which "shows the province wasn't just behind us in words, there's financial support there [too]."
He added that Seaspan is also prepared to spend up to $160 million modernizing its facilities for the bid.
Bell said he revealed details of the proposed assistance Monday, five days after bids for the ship-procurement-program closed, because he didn't want to tip off B.C.'s competitors if the program's details were released sooner.
He added that he now has faith in the federal government's promise that the process of evaluating bids will remain free of political interference, though he vowed B.C. would "hold them to account" in the assessment of the other bids.
Nova Scotia's Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and Quebec's Davie Yards, in partnership with SNC Lavalin and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, are the other bidders for the two packages, one for a $25-million roster of naval vessels, the other for a list of coast guard ships and fisheries vessels.
The Quebec government has confirmed it is backing the bid of Davie Yards with a $19-million loan, on top of $27 million already offered to prop up the company through a last-minute purchase by Upper Lakes Group that rescued it from bankruptcy.
Nova Scotia has put together a Ships Start Here partnership for Irving Shipbuilding Inc.'s bid.
Seaspan is aiming for the larger, $25-billion portion of the strategy to build combat and support ships for the Canadian Navy, which Whitworth said would carry an economic effect equivalent to hosting the Winter Olympics every two-tothree years over the next three decades.