Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/598956
www.vanguardcanada.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 43 T TECHNOLOGY WATCH U nless you have been living under a rock while working in the Canadian defence in- dustry, I presume you would agree with me that there has been a lot of focus on the shipbuild- ing industry since the announcement of NSPS. However, the industry's attention remains concentrated on the changes to IRBs: ITBs and Value Propositions. For this Tech Watch column, I have decided to spotlight two Canadian ship- builders with primarily commercial con- tracts that have no ITB obligations, yet are investing in Canadian technologies regardless, despite potentially increased costs to source and manufacture in Can- ada. Chantier Davie and Norcan Marine are at the top of their global game, and each are planning to invest in local Canadian companies to build their vessels. Chantier Davie, founded way back in 1825 by Cap- tain Alison Davie, has a long history in Canada. The company recently came un- der new ownership, receiving a major cash injection and revitalization in 2012. Since then, the yard has been busy building ves- sels for export, primarily in the offshore oil and gas market. They are also currently building the first two LNG powered fer- ries in North America. Davie's recent initiative, "Project Re- solve" will provide the Canadian Navy with an interim AOR solution through the conversion of a commercial container ship. So far, Canadian companies such as Aspin Kemp and Associates, OSI Mari- time, Hepburn, DRS Canada, L3 MAPPS, RaceRocks 3D Inc., VShips, Navtech and AECON Pictou have been contracted. "We purposely assembled a Pan Cana- dian supply chain. and we are committed to providing open access to our Canadian partners, especially SMEs, to all follow-on work we receive, whether it be in the Ca- nadian defence industry or the offshore," confirmed Spencer Fraser, CEO of Proj- ect Resolve. While Davie clearly prioritized Canadian technologies setting up this team, these Canadian partners are all known to be the best in the world at what they do. That's why many of them had also been recent- ly identified by the Royal New Zealand Navy in an RFP for their own new supply ship. High-tech Canadian critical compo- nents, such as the integrated bridge sys- tem, replenishment at sea equipment, the SHINCOM communications system and designated ship control ops room were all included in the document. If that isn't an obvious global stamp of approval, I don't know what is. Project Resolve is an initiating spark which will drive collaborative investment in R&D, and most importantly, increase access to future follow-on work from Da- vie's global commercial business and/or defence work around the world. My second example is PEI-based Nor- Can Marine. As a relatively new ship- building start-up founded by a Cana- dian-Norwegian partnership, NorCan brings technical expertise and a global background to the offshore oil and gas, aluminum shipbuilding and vessel char- tering industries, along with commercial client interest in its technology. The team at NorCan is on a mission: to build the very first hybrid vessel of its size Nicole Verkindt is the founder and president of OMX. She is a Board Member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the Board of the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs. Chantier Davie and NorCan Marine: No strings attached "We purposely assembled a Pan Canadian supply chain, and we are committed to providing open access to our Canadian partners, especially SMEs, to all follow-on work we receive, whether it be in the Canadian defence industry or the offshore." — Spencer Fraser, CEO of Project Resolve