Davie makes history with return of Royal Canadian Navy frigates
Davie, Canada’s largest, longest-established and highest capacity shipbuilder made history on August 11 with the official launch of the long-term naval frigate maintenance and upgrade program.
A welcome ceremony for HMCS St. John’s was hosted by James Davies, President and CEO of Davie Shipbuilding, Honourable Jean Yves Duclos, President of the Treasury Board of Canada and Captain Andrew Forbes from the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) at Davie’s Lévis, Québec facility.
The event was a key milestone in Davie’s near 200-year history marking the return of Canada’s primary surface combat ships to Québec. Three of the 12 frigate fleet were built at Davie in the 1990s (HMCS Ville de Quebec, HMCS Regina and HMCS Calgary).
The $500 million performance-based contract to carry out an extensive mid-life refit on the Royal Canadian Navy’s patrol frigates is for an initial five-year period. It is expected to increase in duration and value as new work packages are added.
Over the past 12 months a major facility upgrade program was completed at the West end of the shipyard and in the historic Lorne drydock to provide a long-term maintenance home for Canada’s surface combat fleet and its supporting naval staff.
The program will have a major impact on the Québec and Canadian economies. It is expected that up to 400 well-paid jobs will be directly created or sustained at Davie, as well as supporting thousands of the company’s suppliers and partners across Canada.
Docking maintenance work periods are critical to ensure the RCN has at least 8 of its 12 patrol frigates ready for deployment at all times until the class is replaced by the Canadian Surface Combatants (CSC) in the early 2040s.
The frigate program will create an essential baseload of work for Davie in its transition to becoming Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) partner. Davie also recently launched the National Icebreaker Centre (NIC) reflecting its leadership role in the renewal of Canada’s entire icebreaking fleet under the NSS.