Seaspan’s CEO dropped big numbers in a Wednesday speech to illustrate what the company’s Victoria Shipyards delivers to the local economy.
Purchasing goods and services totals $12 million annually, Jonathan Whitworth said at the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce’s business leaders meeting.
“In less than 10 years, we have basically doubled that spending right here in Victoria.”
Victoria Shipyards’ total payroll last year was $78 million, he said.
“That’s families that are being supported with very well-paying jobs,” who are contributing to the local economy, he said.
The number of workers in 2013 ranged from 600 to almost 1,000, depending on the job underway at the federally owned Esquimalt Graving Dock, where Victoria Shipyards rents space and facilities.
Currently, 500 workers are on the job at Victoria Shipyards. That number is expected to climb to 750 within two months as cruise ships, fishing vessels and barges pull in for upgrading and repairs, Victoria Shipyards general manager Malcolm Barker said later.
Every year, Seaspan spends $21 million on goods and services on Vancouver Island as a whole, Whitworth said.
The North Vancouver-based Seaspan group of companies, including tugs and barges, trailer ferries, and shipyards in North Vancouver, spends $200 million in procurement each year, with $152 million of that in B.C., he said.
On top of that, Seaspan is spending about $200 million to modernize its shipyards. The bulk of the money is being spent on 40 acres at Vancouver Shipyards, with some new buildings going up in Victoria. The modernization is coming about because Seaspan won the job to build non-combat ships for the federal government. Work is slated to start on the first vessel in October.
Current estimates peg the overall value of work at $7.3 billion to build 17 ships in the next 20 to 30 years. The majority of the construction will take place in Vancouver and the ships will come to Victoria for final testing.
Whitworth addressed the question of whether potential changes in governing political parties could affect building plans.
Canada has the largest coastline of any country on the globe, he said. “Do you believe that we are going to be a country that does not have an operating Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy? I don’t.
“And I think the fact that we have gone 30 years without actually investing in those vessels — it will be time to build them.”
There still could be bumps in the road, Whitworth said, but he believes the federal government is 100 per cent committed to the shipbuilding program.
As one example, the fourth new non-combat vessel that Seaspan is building will replace the Coast Guard’s 50-year-old Hudson, a scientific vessel. Its operating days have been shaved because of the high costs of running it, Whitworth said.
