History

CH Cates & Sons

  • 1886 Charles Henry Cates arrives in Vancouver and begins his first business operations
  • 1921 CH Cates and Sons Limited is officially incorporated and established at the foot of Lonsdale Avenue
  • 1988 CH Cates and Sons Limited acquires Seaforth Towing

Vancouver Tug

  • 1898 Vancouver Tug formed by Harry A. Jones
  • 1919 Harry A. Jones sold Vancouver Tug and passed away four years later
  • 1924 Vancouver Tug business revived by Harold Jones (Harry Jones' son). Business re-named Vancouver Tug Boat Company
  • 1954 To cut costs and further integrate its operations, Vancouver Tug purchased Vancouver Shipyards (originally incorporated in 1902)
  • 1956 Harold Jones passed away leaving Vancouver Tug to Beverly McCarvill O’Toole. During that time Arthur Lindsay and Captain James Stewart guided the company into a major expansion and rebuilding program
  • 1962 Vancouver Tug acquired Vancouver Barge Transportation
  • 1963 Vancouver Tug acquired Pacific Tanker
  • 1965 Vancouver Tug acquired Western Tug & Barge
  • 1966 Vancouver Tug launches the pride of their fleet – a 3500 horsepower, 136 foot tug named the Harold A. Jones
  • 1969 Vancouver Tug and Vancouver Shipyards purchased by Dillingham Corporation and vacated locations at the foot of Denman Street, in Vancouver, to move across Burrard Inlet to a 40 acre waterfront site at the foot of Pemberton Avenue, in North Vancouver

Island Tug & Barge

  • 1924 Island Tug & Barge formed by Harold B. Elworthy
  • 1926 Elworthy acquired Gardner Towing
  • 1937 Elworthy purchased a 1500 horsepower US Coastguard cutter named Snohomish, equipped it for towing and salvage and made it the company flagship
  • 1954 Island Tug & Barge acquired a vessel named Sudbury, which for more than a decade was BC’s most famous tug
  • 1956 Island Tug acquired Young & Gore
  • 1958 Island Tug acquired Victoria Tug
  • 1960 McAllister Towing, of Montreal, purchased Island Tug and then Griffiths Steamship Company in 1961

Seaspan is Born - Genstar Appears

  • 1969 Genstar Ltd. acquired Island Tug & Barge
  • 1970 Genstar joined with Dillingham Corporation to merge Island Tug and Vancouver Tug into a new corporate identity, Seaspan
  • 1972 Seaspan acquired FM Yorke & Sons Ltd.
  • 1973 Genstar obtained full ownership of Seaspan by purchasing Dillingham’s interest
  • 1977 Seaspan acquired Gulf of Georgia Towing
  • 1986 Imasco Ltd. acquired Genstar and gained controlling interest in Seaspan
  • 1986 Imasco sold Seaspan to McLuan Capital Group
  • 1991 Seaspan acquired Vancouver Drydock Company

Washington Companies

  • 1992 CH Cates and Sons purchased by Dennis Washington
  • 1994 Vancouver Shipyards (Esquimalt) Ltd. (now Victoria Shipyards) was created at the Public Works and Government Services’ Esquimalt Graving Dock to fill the void left when Yarrows Shipyard Limited went bankrupt
  • 1994 Dennis Washington acquires a partial interest in Seaspan International Ltd. (now Seaspan ULC)
  • 1995 Dennis Washington acquires Norsk from Fletcher Challenge
  • 1996 Dennis Washington purchased the remaining shares in Seaspan and its subsidiaries to become 100% owner of the company
  • 1996 Seaspan acquires a 50 percent interest in Marine Petrobulk Limited
  • 1997 Kingcome Navigation acquired by Dennis Washington from MacMillan Bloedel
  • 1998 Dennis Washington purchased Seaspan Coastal Intermodal (now Seaspan Ferries) from Canadian Pacific
  • 1999 Cates, Seaforth, Norsk & Kingcome amalgamated to Seaspan
  • 2010 Seaspan acquires the tug and barge assets of SMIT Marine Canada
  • 2011 Seaspan Ferries acquires the business of Van Isle Barge Services Ltd.
  • 2011 The Government of Canada formed a $7.3B partnership with Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards to build future state-of-the-art Non-Combat vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy under the National Shipbuilding Strategy.
  • 2012 Seaspan signs the NSS Umbrella Agreement with the Government of Canada making the new partnership official.
  • 2013 The Government of Canada announced that Vancouver Shipyards will build up to 10 additional large Non-Combat vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, worth an estimated $3.3B.
  • 2015 Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards started construction on the first National Shipbuilding Strategy vessel, the Canadian Coast Guard’s Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV).
  • 2015 Seaspan completed its $170M Shipyard Modernization Project.
  • 2016 The Washington Companies acquired controlling interesting in Marine Petrobulk LP.
  • 2016 Vancouver Shipyards started construction on its second NSS vessel, the Canadian Coast Guard’s second OFSV.
  • 2016 Seaspan Celebrates Historical Milestone for the Royal Canadian Navy.