A Shelburne shipyard that reopened last month will be doing $2.4 million in refit work on two vessels for the navy and coast guard, Thechronicleherald reports.
Steel & Engine Products Ltd. has won a $1.3-million contract to upgrade YDT 610 Sechelt, a navy diving barge, according to a federal government tender award made public Monday.
The Irving-owned company, which operates Shelburne Ship Repair, also received a $1.1-million tender to upgrade the coast guard ship Earl Grey, which arrived in Shelburne on Monday.
A spokeswoman for parent company J.D. Irving Ltd. said work on the 34-metre Sechelt will arrive Wednesday and the contract will employ about 30 people.
"The refit and dry-docking is for an estimated 10-week period and covers mechanical, hull, electrical, operations work and sandblasting and painting," Mary Keith said in an email.
About 40 people will be needed for about six weeks because of the Earl Grey contract, she said.
"The contract is a refit and dry-docking consisting of mechanical, hull, electrical and blasting and painting," Keith said of the 69-metre ship.
Danny Branscombe, president of Local 9 of the Canadian Auto Workers-Marine Workers Federation, said the yard is bidding on other contracts, so the tradespeople he represents hope there is more work to come.
"If we get a decent amount of work, because of the larger facilities (and) the capacity to haul larger ships, the numbers can only go up," said the welder, who returned to the yard this week after two months at Irving’s Halifax Shipyard.
The 70-year-old Shelburne facility was closed in August 2009 because its wharf and slip, called a marine railway, needed upgrading.
Shelburne Ship Repair officially reopened last month after a $16.6-million renovation was finished in August. The upgrade included $8.8 million from the provincial government and $7.8 million from Irving Shipbuilding Inc.
Now vessels weighing up to 4,000 tonnes and more than 122 metres long can be hauled out of the water. The slip can also take two vessels at once and is the only one of its kind in North America, company officials have said.
The Shelburne workforce is also hoping to benefit from larger shipbuilding contracts should Halifax Shipyard land a $25-billion deal to build about 20 warships.
A decision on $35 billion in federal shipbuilding contracts is expected this fall.
Besides the warships, an $8-billion contract is also up for grabs to build coast guard icebreakers and replacements for the navy’s supply ships, as well as $2 billion to be spent on building small craft and repair work.