Next step in Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy
The OOSV will serve with the Canadian Coast Guard (Source: Seaspan)
The Canadian Government has awarded a C$453.8 million (US$357.2 million) contract to Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards in Canada to start construction of an offshore oceanographic science vessel (OOSV) for the Canadian Coast Guard.
The vessel will be 85.9m long, with a displacement of 4,390 tonnes. Vancouver Shipyards had also won the contract to design the vessel, which is being ordered under the project to modernise the Government and Canadian navy’s fleet, called the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS).
Construction of the OOSV will begin in spring 2021, with delivery expected in 2024. The OOSV will replace the CCGS Hudson (90m length), the Canadian Coast Guard's oldest and largest science vessel.
The newbuilding will be the primary oceanographic science platform for Fisheries and Oceans Canada,capable of performing multiple tasks, including oceanographic, geological and hydrographic survey missions, and search and rescue. The OOSV is outfitted for marine surveys and scientific research on ocean currents and the seabed. Equipped with the latest scientific research apparatus, the OOSV will be able to meet its crucial mission to increase our overall understanding of the impact that climate change has on the oceans.
But there is controversy in Canada about the rising costs of the vessel. The C$453.8 million price represents a nearly tenfold increase over the original plan to spend C$108 million when the project was launched in 2008. It is also three times the Government’s most recent estimate in 2016, when Ottawa predicted the vessel would cost C$331 million. As the project has progressed and moved closer to construction, the estimated project cost has been updated to reflect the value of negotiated contracts with suppliers and actual costs incurred, and has been reviewed independently by expert third parties, the Coast Guard said. In addition to cost overruns, the project has been plagued by delays. The vessel was supposed to have been delivered by 2017 to 2018, but design and technical problems have pushed that date back until at least 2024.
