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Navy vessel contracts expected this fall
Marystown has fingers crossed over shipbuilding bid
JAMIE BAKER
The Telegram
You can't walk the length of yourself in Marystown without hearing about "the contracts."
Oh sure, industry and political leaders in the area will say the community's shipbuilding future is built on more than just the federal government's plan to construct new Joint Supply Ships (JSS) for the Canadian Navy.
But it would be hard for anyone to say - with a straight face, anyway - that getting a piece of a pie worth about $2.1 billion isn't a big deal.
It looks as though the nearly four-year wait for an announcement is almost over.
"Awarding of the contract to the successful company to build the ships, and the related contract to maintain and repair the ships, is planned for fall 2008," a spokesman with federal Public Works and Government Services told The Telegram.
In the meantime, a duo of companies are in the process of putting together plans to "develop project implementation and in-service support proposals" for the JSS project.
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada Inc. and SNC-Lavalin ProFac Inc. won that contract following a bidding process.
"These proposals are due in March 2008, after which the Crown will perform a thorough evaluation to determine which of the two companies' proposals represent the best value for the Canadian Forces and Canadian taxpayers," the spokesman said.
Peter Kiewit and Sons Ltd. in Marystown is part of a prequalified consortium for JSS.
It is believed the value of such a contract to the Marystown Shipyard would be in the neighbourhood of $800 million to $900 million.
The federal government originally announced in 2004 that it wanted to get three new JSS ships for the Canadian Navy.
The ships would replace the Protecteur class Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment vessels that have been in operation since the late 1960s.
The vessels would be capable of handling at-sea support to naval task groups and sealift and support to deployed forces ashore.
Each vessel in the JSS program, expected to be completed by 2016 with the first ship delivered by 2012, would be 210 metres long and about 28,000 tonnes in displacement.
Meanwhile, another $1.5 billion federal contract for maintenance that had been eyed in the past by the shipbuilding forces on the Burin Peninsula looks to be on the verge of going to a yard in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
According to the Dec. 31, 2007 issue of The Victoria Times Colonist, a B.C.-based consortium had won the bid and was actually in the negotiation phase.
A previous bid from Irving Shipbuilding appeared to put that contract in doubt.
In November 2007 it even looked like the contract would be yanked away from the West Coast under the weight of lobbying pressure. According to Malcolm Barker, Victoria Shipyards general manager, that pressure came from East Coast politicians, failed bidders and lobbyists.
Although Marystown had not been among the final contenders, there had been a time when they were interested.
In an interview with the Telegram in April 2006, a spokesman with Kiewit singled out the contract as being one of interest.
It is expected the submarine contract will create up to 150 jobs. The quartet of submarines which need maintaining are the much-ballyhooed diesel-electric vessels bought from the British in the late 1990s.
[email protected]
Navy vessel contracts expected this fall
Marystown has fingers crossed over shipbuilding bid
JAMIE BAKER
The Telegram
You can't walk the length of yourself in Marystown without hearing about "the contracts."
Oh sure, industry and political leaders in the area will say the community's shipbuilding future is built on more than just the federal government's plan to construct new Joint Supply Ships (JSS) for the Canadian Navy.
But it would be hard for anyone to say - with a straight face, anyway - that getting a piece of a pie worth about $2.1 billion isn't a big deal.
It looks as though the nearly four-year wait for an announcement is almost over.
"Awarding of the contract to the successful company to build the ships, and the related contract to maintain and repair the ships, is planned for fall 2008," a spokesman with federal Public Works and Government Services told The Telegram.
In the meantime, a duo of companies are in the process of putting together plans to "develop project implementation and in-service support proposals" for the JSS project.
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada Inc. and SNC-Lavalin ProFac Inc. won that contract following a bidding process.
"These proposals are due in March 2008, after which the Crown will perform a thorough evaluation to determine which of the two companies' proposals represent the best value for the Canadian Forces and Canadian taxpayers," the spokesman said.
Peter Kiewit and Sons Ltd. in Marystown is part of a prequalified consortium for JSS.
It is believed the value of such a contract to the Marystown Shipyard would be in the neighbourhood of $800 million to $900 million.
The federal government originally announced in 2004 that it wanted to get three new JSS ships for the Canadian Navy.
The ships would replace the Protecteur class Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment vessels that have been in operation since the late 1960s.
The vessels would be capable of handling at-sea support to naval task groups and sealift and support to deployed forces ashore.
Each vessel in the JSS program, expected to be completed by 2016 with the first ship delivered by 2012, would be 210 metres long and about 28,000 tonnes in displacement.
Meanwhile, another $1.5 billion federal contract for maintenance that had been eyed in the past by the shipbuilding forces on the Burin Peninsula looks to be on the verge of going to a yard in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
According to the Dec. 31, 2007 issue of The Victoria Times Colonist, a B.C.-based consortium had won the bid and was actually in the negotiation phase.
A previous bid from Irving Shipbuilding appeared to put that contract in doubt.
In November 2007 it even looked like the contract would be yanked away from the West Coast under the weight of lobbying pressure. According to Malcolm Barker, Victoria Shipyards general manager, that pressure came from East Coast politicians, failed bidders and lobbyists.
Although Marystown had not been among the final contenders, there had been a time when they were interested.
In an interview with the Telegram in April 2006, a spokesman with Kiewit singled out the contract as being one of interest.
It is expected the submarine contract will create up to 150 jobs. The quartet of submarines which need maintaining are the much-ballyhooed diesel-electric vessels bought from the British in the late 1990s.
[email protected]
