
http://www.timescolo...centre-1.565570Sun rising on shipbuilding industry, says Victoria-based marine research centre
Carla Wilson / Times Colonist
July 30, 2013
B.C. shipyards have the capability to build three new B.C. ferries, although it may require a joint effort among companies, says the head of the new marine training centre in Esquimalt.
“I don’t think, for instance, a smaller yard might be able to take on the whole contract by itself. It might have to band together with a couple of other yards to do that,” Alex Rueben, executive director of the Industrial Marine Training and Applied Research Centre, said Tuesday.
The centre is marking its nearly six-month anniversary, announcing that slightly more than 2,000 students have received training since it opened to develop a workforce dedicated to B.C.’s expanding maritime industry. This facility was set up with money from the federal and provincial governments and the ship-building industry.
New ships for B.C. Ferries, ongoing refit and upgrading projects for Canada’s Navy, new coast guard vessels, plus the National Ship Building and Procurement Strategy all add up to billions of dollars in work in coming decades.
By 2020, a total of 4,237 workers are expected to be employed in the shipbuilding and repair sector, up from 3,198 today, research centre documents state. In the next seven years, 850 shipyard workers are expected to retire.