July 17, 2024
It’s been an action-packed second quarter across all three of our shipyards, with several successful program milestones accomplished, and exciting repair projects underway.
Vancouver Drydock
The team at Vancouver Drydock has kept up the high paced tempo of work into the second quarter, with various repair and maintenance projects completed and underway.
A vessel well known to those living on the North Shore, the Burrard Otter II Seabus stopped by the drydock in April for a regulatory survey and maintenance to two of the four propulsion drives. The team also repainted the underwater hull before the vessel undocked on April 20.
The drydock team also welcomed a return visitor, the FRPD-309 dredger. Owned by Fraser River Pile and Dredge, this unique vessel uses suction to remove and transport sediment and sand from the seabed. The team performed steel and mechanical repairs on the 124-meter-long vessel, including replacing several bulkheads in the cargo holds, bottom hatches, and the propeller blades.
Other exciting repair projects that were taken on this quarter include the Corpus Christi and Petro-Chem Supplier, an Articulated Tug and Barge that stopped by from mid-May to late June for paint, mechanical work, piping, and steel repairs.
Finally, to start off the cruise season, we hosted the Roald Amundsen, a hybrid-electric cruise ship, between June 4-8 to complete minor repairs while their team conducted in-water repair work alongside the drydock.
Victoria Shipyards
The team at Victoria Shipyards recently completed a highly complex project on the Norwegian Sun, a cruise ship owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines. In only 9 days, the team was able to successfully remove the vessel’s bulbous bow and complete the welding work required to attach a new one, avoiding significant impact to the cruise ship’s schedule.
On the VISSC program, HMCS Victoria’s Extended Docking Work Period (EDWP) is underway and the team here at Victoria Shipyards has moved into the heavy production phase of the EDWP as planned and is meeting agreed production targets. The current priority is steel repair.
Work also continues on HMCS Calgary, which is scheduled to undock in August, with return to the Navy scheduled for next Spring.
Vancouver Shipyards
At Vancouver Shipyards, the team accomplished several milestones across both Coast Guard and Navy programs this quarter, including the activation of the power supply on the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) in early June. With help from Electrician Apprentice, Kathleen Natrall, the 600-volt main switchboard was brought to life with the press of a button, marking an exciting moment for the 142 skilled tradespeople on the OOSV electrical team.
Later in June, the OOSV team also marked the successful installation of the azimuth thrusters which make up the ship’s propulsion system. The 37,900 kg thrusters are propellers mounted in a pod and offer advanced steering capabilities even in icy waters. With the thrusters in place, the team is squarely focused on preparing for vessel launch in August.
Meanwhile, progress on the first Joint Support Ship (JSS) being built for the Royal Canadian Navy is well underway, with the successful installation of the tail shafts now complete. The tail shafts are an integral component that transfer power from the engines to the propeller blades mounted aft on the JSS. Looking ahead, the Vancouver Shipyards team is focused on installing the propeller blades amid other preparations for the vessel’s launch later this year.
On the design and engineering side, functional design of the Polar Icebreaker is now 75% complete, with steel cutting on the vessel planned before the end of the year. Construction Engineering and procuring long-lead items continues for the first flight of the new Multi-Purpose Vessels.