The Davie shipyard will open an office in downtown Montreal at the start of the year.
The Lévis-based company has created an investment division under the name Davie Capital whose offices will be located at 1250, boulevard René-Lévesque, a few steps from the Bell Center. It will be an open workspace where up to twenty people can work at the same time.
“It’s a presence that reflects the growth and dynamism of the company,” comments Denis Boucher, vice-president of public affairs at Davie.
After going through several difficult years, Chantier Davie maintains that it has today reached a position of “unprecedented strength and stability” allowing it to invest.
“Davie is over 50% of the shipbuilding capacity in Canada. Davie is the colossus who now has the means to fulfill his ambitions, ”says Denis Boucher.
Davie Capital will be responsible for targeting, evaluating and managing investments across Canada as part of Davie’s participation in the National Shipbuilding Strategy and other programs.
Having a presence in Montreal is a way for the organization to get closer to the economic community of Montreal, the rest of Canada and internationally, says Denis Boucher.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LES CHANTIERS DAVIE
An icebreaker at Chantier Davie
“It allows us to have a team dedicated to investments that will allow us to remain a leader, to be closer to decision-makers in Montreal, the economic heart of Quebec, in addition to also opening up a larger pool of talent” , he adds.
“To obtain federal contracts, you have to have a certain Canadian content and sometimes you have to turn to suppliers abroad, so you have to compensate for your investments that are not made locally. For this content, we can have research programs that can help develop increasingly greener ships and seek out advanced technologies. These are the kinds of programs that we can put forward with partners, as we did at the start of the year where, in partnership with the École Polytechnique and a private company, we will be carrying out training programs. research to advance cybersecurity knowledge for ships. ”
Denis Boucher indicates that after modernizing IT systems and organizational structures over the past 10 years, Chantier Davie is now able to obtain contracts on a “stable” basis (maintenance and construction of frigates).
Founded in 1825, the company is the largest shipbuilder in the country with nearly 1,000 employees (including some 220 subcontractors) and relationships with more than 1,500 suppliers.
Davie’s order book for the next few years will reach 8.5 billion, underlines the management, to which could be added new projects which eventually, it is hoped, could give employment to 2000 or 3000 people.
Owners have come and gone over the years and after declaring bankruptcy in the early 2000s, the company recovered and even made the jump to the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2008, before filing for protection. Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in 2010.
In 2012, Chantier Davie was acquired by the Inocea group and is today managed by the founders of this private European holding company, James Davies and Alex Vicefield.
The main client of the site remains the Government of Canada, but the organization is trying to make more and more room for commercial clients.