What would it take for BC Ferries to be built here

The CEO of BC Ferries is speaking out about what it will take to have future vessels built in Canada rather than overseas in countries like China.

BC Ferries announced in June that it had hired China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards to build four new major vessels after a five-year procurement process that did not include a Canadian bid.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank contributed a $1 billion loan to the deal and said in June that the new ferries “wouldn’t likely be purchased” without this financing.

Ahead of a federal summit on ferries and rail transportation, BC Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez restated how the company didn’t have a Canadian option.

“We need to make sure that people actually bid. So we didn’t have that today — or this current procurement — but we would love for Canadian yards to be able to bid,” Jimenez told 1130 NewsRadio.

For Canadian companies to take part, he explained they need to have the capacity and skilled labour to deliver fixed-price contracts on time, and quality must be assured. Even then, the contract procurement process must remain competitive and open to international options.

“For us to be able to build with a domestic partner, they need to be able to deliver when British Columbians need the ships. That just has to be certainty.”

In a statement, Jimenez explained that BC Ferries will need to build even more vessels over the next decade, but its demand isn’t enough to sustain Canada’s shipbuilding or steel industries alone.

“Nor is it fair to say that BC Ferries must carry that burden on our own.”

He says government help is needed to ensure training and to build up the domestic workforce and supply chain.

“In these really highly technical industries. We need to think more broadly and holistically, as a country, about skilled trades and naval architects, naval engineers, and all the other people that go into building ships and sustaining ships once they are built.”

Jimenez says BC Ferries is committed to working with government and industry partners to help make it possible for Canadian companies to take part in future procurement bids.

—With files from The Canadian Press