Over 20 unions call on BC Ferries to build new vessels in-province

A group of over 20 unions have joined the call on BC Ferries to build their new vessels in BC, rather than overseas. 

However, BC Ferries says that no Canadian shipbuilders submitted proposals to build their new Summit Class vessels, so a Chinese company that applied for the contract was chosen. 

The coalition behind the ‘Build Them Here’ campaign held a press conference on Monday, August 31st to launch the endeavour and a website. 

“We are launching today because we are at an inflection point,” said Brynn Bourke, executive director of the BC Building Trades.  

“The need to buy Canadian and build Canadian has grown even more critical in the last 10 days.”

Bourke said that she wants to see BC Ferries help rebuild the shipbuilding industry that has supported thousands of British Columbians and their families rather than give a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to a Chinese company. 

“BC shipbuilders are world class,” she said. “The next round of ferries should be built now and built here.”

BC Ferries position on this call for BC-built vessels is that they have and always will support a strong shipbuilding industry in BC and Canada. 

“We already work extensively with BC shipyards, suppliers and marine companies on vessel maintenance, refits, upgrades and other work across our fleet, and we would welcome greater domestic capacity to build the ferries our system needs,” said the company in a statement. 

However, in order to select a ship builder for the four new Summit Class vessels, BC Ferries undertook a rigorous global procurement process which included a public Request for Proposals, comprehensive bid evaluations, international site visits as well as independent third-party reference checks.

According to BC Ferries, only two Canadian shipyards showed interest, but neither of them submitted a final proposal. 

BC Ferries says the company did everything they could to prioritize trying to find a Canadian shipyard and adjusted the qualification criteria specifically to enable them to have a better chance at being selected. 

China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards (CMI Weihai) ended up as the selected shipyard for the four new vessels that will be added to BC Ferries fleet. 

According to BC Ferries, CMI Weihai was not the lowest-cost bidder but was chosen for its best overall value. This includes the company’s delivery timeline, technical performance, lifecycle cost and service-level commitments.

“We could not defer replacing aging vessels while waiting for domestic capacity to develop,” said BC Ferries. 

“Our responsibility was to secure the vessels needed within the required timeframe while delivering safety, quality and value for customers.”

The company also noted that building the capacity to compete for large passenger-vessel construction would require significant investment by government and industry. 

Without that support, the additional cost of building locally would ultimately fall to ferry customers.