Buying an icebreaker builder | Fitzgibbon has a date with Helsinki

Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon will take advantage of his visit to Europe this week to try to resolve a thorny issue closely followed by several NATO member countries: the attempt by the Davie shipyard in Lévis to buy the largest manufacturer of breakers. ice cream in the world, in Finland.

Mr. Fitzgibbon missed the parliamentary return to Quebec this week due to a mission in Europe. The Press has learned that he has agreed to discuss Friday with Wille Rydman, the new Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs, about the proposed purchase of the Helsinki shipyard by Davie.

The Helsinki Shipyard Oy shipyard, located in the Finnish capital, has alone built 60% of the world’s icebreaker fleet. Last March, Davie confirmed that it was in negotiations with the current owners and now had an “exclusive option” to purchase the facilities.

Replace the Russians

It was the war in Ukraine that created an opportunity for the Lévis company. The shipyard was formerly owned by a Russian state company, OSK, which supplies military ships to the Russian Navy. After Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the imposition of Western sanctions against OSK, in 2014, it became almost impossible for a Russian state company to continue building ships in Finland. The facilities were therefore sold to two Russian businessmen, Risat Bagautdinov and Vladimir Kasyanenko. Under their leadership, the shipyard built and exported several icebreakers to Russia, its main market.

But new, even tougher sanctions imposed on Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine have cut the shipyard off from the Russian market. The last icebreaker ordered by the Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel in January 2022 was not even allowed to be exported to Vladimir Putin’s country. The owners of the shipyard also could not find new clients in the West willing to do business with a builder controlled by Russian business people. They therefore decided to get rid of the Helsinki facilities.

The purchase by a Canadian company would allow the site to start again on new bases with new outlets within the NATO military alliance, which Finland joined last April. Several members of the alliance plan to purchase icebreakers in the coming years and according to our information, some potential customers have already contacted the parties to find out when production of new ships could begin.

In the current context, however, such a strategic transaction involving Russian shareholders is very delicate. “The process is complex and subject to several control and verification mechanisms,” said Paul Barrett, communications manager for Davie, in a message sent to The Press in March.

A supportive Finnish minister

The Quebec government is already supporting Davie in its approach and will try during Friday’s meeting to see if it can do more to ensure that the negotiations are successful. Minister Wille Rydman, who will meet Mr Fitzgibbon, is a native and resident of Helsinki, and has already expressed interest in the survival of the shipyard, a major employer in the Finnish capital.

The City of Helsinki has already taken important steps to facilitate the transaction. According to a press release issued by the municipal authorities on June 22, it authorized an extension of the lease which allows the occupation of the port area by the construction site until 2073.

Davie has already argued that the integration of Finnish experts within it could help it in its projects to build icebreakers intended for the Canadian Coast Guard at the Lévis shipyard: seven new generation ships must be built during over the next few years in Quebec.

“If the purchase [du chantier d’Helsinki] is completed, the transfer of cutting-edge icebreaker expertise should certainly improve Davie’s ability to deliver the ships it needs to build in Lévis for Canada on time and on budget,” said Paul Barrett last March.