Seaspan Shipyards Stories

In Good Hands

Bryan Johnson

Bryan Johnson’s experience is helping the next generation of welders at Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards learn their trade and we had a chance to talk with him last week. Bryan has been back with us for only a few months now but started his career as a welder here working at Vancouver Shipyards from 1980-1995.

Bryan was recruited back to Seaspan as a manager to supervise trades and his expertise in ceramics has proven especially valuable. Ceramics refers to the welding technique that involves a ceramic backing applied under a weld joint, to prevent the flow of weld bead from the other side. Modern shipyards have adopted the technique because it supports improved weld quality, producing seams that look machine-made from the underside and eliminating the need for back gouging or grinding. Read more »

Seaspan Partner Profile: Safway Services Canada

A Safway trailer at the Vancouver Shipyard

Have you ever seen a prefabricated home being assembled? Large sections are precision-built in a controlled setting and then brought onsite to be put together. Modern shipbuilding uses a comparable approach called block construction where large segments (blocks) of the ship are built at different stages and in different parts of the yard, before being moved to the building dock and lifted into position. Using this approach, modern shipyards like Seaspan’s can pre-install components and equipment like power, propulsion, electrical and water systems, and, notably the marine insulation that protects them all, provided by Seaspan partner Safway Services Canada.

Since 2017, Safway has been onsite at Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards to provide marine insulation services for the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV) for the Canadian Coast Guard and for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Joint Support Ships (JSS). Read more »

 

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