THUNDER BAY — A plan to have some components of a new polar icebreaker fabricated at the Ontario Shipyards facility in Thunder Bay appears to have been shelved.
Earlier this month, the federal government awarded the construction contract for a heavy polar icebreaker to Seaspan Shipyards of North Vancouver, BC.
Costing $3.15 billion, the ship will be built entirely at the company's yard, marking the first time a polar icebreaker has been constructed in Canada in over 60 years.
In 2020, Heddle Shipyards (now Ontario Shipyards) and Seaspan announced they were teaming up to bid for the contract.
The next year, Heddle reaffirmed that the partnership was expected to bring a significant amount of the work to its facilities in Thunder Bay and elsewhere.
Although the scope of its involvement wasn't clear at the time, a Heddle spokesperson said "We absolutely foresee there'll be benefits to Thunder Bay...This will have an impact on job creation across all of our facilities."
Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski stated in May 2021 "According to my communications with the company throughout the fall and winter, this contract will be a great boost to our local economy and create more well-paying jobs for our city."
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu said she, too, was eager to see the benefits for Thunder Bay.
"Heddle Shipyards is an important employer in our community, and this investment in the marine industry is great news for local shipbuilders."
But Seaspan's manager of external communications, Jessica Gares, has now told Newswatch "Ontario Shipyards is not involved in Seaspan’s Polar contract."
It's unclear what's transpired between the two companies since 2021.
Ted Kirkpatrick, director of business development and government relations for Ontario Shipyards, declined during an interview this week to discuss the status of the partnership with the BC shipyard.
"I won't talk about that specifically...but we hope to work with the other National Shipbuilding Strategy shipyards should those opportunities arise, as well as pursuing our own opportunities to bring shipbuilding back to Ontario. And should we be able to do that, Thunder Bay will definitely factor into our plans."
Under NSS, the federal government's shipbuilding strategy, Ottawa has also partnered with the Davie shipyard in Quebec and the Irving shipyard in Halifax.
Neither Hajdu nor Powlowski has responded to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Hajdu referred Newswatch to the office of Ali Ehsassi, the minister of government transformation, public services and procurement.
Operations at the Thunder Bay shipyard were suspended over a year ago, but the facility was reopened in December to make repairs to a bulk carrier that was damaged in an incident on the Kam River.
Asked this week if the yard will be idled indefinitely after the repairs are done, Kirkpatrick said "indefinitely is putting it strongly, but we continue to see what opportunities are there."
