Projects Underway at North Vancouver Sites to Support Business Growth and Increasing Demand for Services and Expertise
Seaspan has been a part of the North Shore waterfront for more than 100 years and is proud to be building world-class ships, providing essential ship repair and maintenance services in North Vancouver along with vital marine transportation services on Canada’s West Coast. We are a significant economic engine for B.C. and Canada and are rebuilding a domestic shipbuilding industry that creates local jobs and benefits.
In light of continued business growth and to meet increasing demand for our services and expertise, in 2020 Seaspan engaged engineering consulting company Stantec to develop a comprehensive waterfront master plan for our North Vancouver sites. This plan examined how to optimize our water lot use to support operations for the Seaspan Shipyards and Seaspan Marine Transportation businesses, now and in the future.
As part of the master planning implementation, several projects are now underway to help us make the best use of our water areas as we build ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard under the National Shipbuilding Strategy at our Vancouver Shipyards site, meet increasing demand for ship repair and maintenance services at our Vancouver Drydock site and manage our marine transportation assets within our existing water areas.
Here are highlights of a few of our projects approved by the Port of Vancouver:
Ship Load-out Gravel Bed & Shoreline Protection
We are nearing completion of constructing a 7,500 square metre gravel bed adjacent to our existing Vancouver Shipyards site to allow for the launch of Coast Guard and Navy vessels. This project includes removal of debris from the site, slope protection and the installation of concrete channels and gravel.
As part of this project, we have also made enhancements to the MacKay Creek estuary to improve the marine habitat for kelp and juvenile salmonids. We have two videos documenting the habitat restoration from October 2021 and January 2022 and we plan to capture another video update soon as the project nears completion. Learn more here.
Mooring Piles at Pier 94
The gravel bed project and others have reduced the amount of available water space around Seaspan’s Pemberton Avenue site that has traditionally been used for Seaspan’s Marine Transportation’s tug fleet and moorage of its marine equipment. The master waterfront plan identified the solution to relocate several barges and other marine assets to Pier 94, east of Vancouver Drydock, so that they could continue to support the operating needs of the business. The Port of Vancouver approved the installation of additional mooring piles at Pier 94 in September 2021 and construction is scheduled to begin in summer of 2022. The area at Pier 94 will continue to be used for moorage, vessel maintenance and minor vessel repairs – those not requiring mobile equipment or drydock services. Learn more here.
We also have a project currently under review by the Port of Vancouver:
Vancouver Drydock – Proposed Water Lot Project
To meet increasing demand for ship repair and maintenance services while enabling our Vancouver Shipyards site to focus on new ship construction, we have applied to the Port of Vancouver to extend our water lot and add two smaller floating drydocks and work pontoon to our existing operations at Vancouver Drydock.
We have completed several technical assessments to understand how the new proposed drydocks may change our operations. Last summer, from June 25 to August 12, we engaged with the public and received feedback on this project. Seaspan has incorporated that feedback into proposed mitigations and, in line with the port authority’s feedback and requirements, we will soon be undertaking supplemental engagement activities with the North Vancouver community on these proposed mitigations. Once we’re ready to go we will share more information on our project website about how the public can provide feedback and we will notify those who have opted into project updates. Learn more here.
At Seaspan, we have a clear vision to build a multi-generational business – one that will continue to create sustainable jobs and economic activity in our local community for decades to come. These projects are just some of the investments we’re making in our facilities, in technology and our people as we continue to gain momentum as a leader in shipbuilding, ship repair and conversion, and marine transportation.
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