Canadian cruise and ferry shiprepairer, Seaspan is to make substantial investments to upgrade and expand its Vancouver (BC) drydock infrastructure.
This is aimed at growing the company’s shiprepair and maintenance operations and to better serve the Pacific Northwest, the company said.
Seaspan received permit approval from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) in October, 2023 to extend its North Vancouver drydock facilities to increase capacity and service additional vessels.
Seaspan had consolidated its shiprepair and maintenance projects at Vancouver Drydock, resulting in the shipyard running at or near capacity for several years.
This expansion project will increase Seaspan’s capacity for shiprepair projects by about 30%, and will result in around 100 new jobs.
“Seaspan Vancouver Drydock plays an integral role in supporting the West Coast marine industry and creating long-term work for BC’s skilled workforce.
“By investing in improvements to better use our land and the space within our water lots, we will be able to serve more customers, create new jobs and harness new economic activity for our communities,” said Paul Hebson, Vice President and General Manager of Vancouver Drydock.
“The input and feedback we gathered during the public engagement process for the drydock expansion allowed us to develop meaningful measures to address concerns and helped us created a stronger, more responsive project,” he said.
The project includes a drydock expansion, a new operations building and a complete upgrade and extension to the current careen deck to enhance its capabilities.
Seaspan’s current water area will be expanded by about 40 m and two new smaller drydocks and a floating work pontoon will be installed to the west of the two existing drydocks.
This project is expected to take around a year to complete, with the drydocks and work pontoon arriving by water fully assembled.
Seaspan’s new operations building for its growing workforce is designed to accommodate up to 300 people over two shifts. Construction will commence soon and is expected to be complete by late 2024.
Vancouver Drydock currently has a skilled team of about 200 people who complete maintenance, repair and refit on more than 50 vessel projects per year, including ferries and cruise ships, among other vessel types.
