(OTTAWA) Ottawa is reporting another delay in the delivery of new support ships for the Royal Canadian Navy, which means Canada will have to rely on a civilian ship and the goodwill of allies to resupply its naval fleet for the foreseeable future. .
Posted at 5:04 p.m.
The federal government says the first of two new support ships being built by Vancouver’s Seaspan shipyard won’t be delivered until at least 2025 – two years later than the most recent estimate.
The new delivery schedule, if adhered to, is now six years later than originally planned and it also means the Royal Canadian Navy will have been without a permanent supply ship for a full decade.
The second ship will face a similar delay and is not expected until 2027.
Navy officials have previously stressed the importance of having purpose-built support ships for overseas operations, given the limitations of dependence on allies and the civilian ship’s inability to operate in areas of war.
The new timeline remains uncertain, given the delays and cost overruns that have plagued much of Canada’s decade-long multi-billion dollar effort to replace its aging Navy and Coast Guard fleets. .
Officials also cannot guarantee that Canada will end up with the two support ships, as they point out that the budget for the project, originally set at $2.3 billion but later updated to $4.1 billion, is under review.
Seaspan has already started work on the second Joint Support Ship, and MoD procurement chief Troy Crosby said the government’s stated goal remains to purchase two such ships.
However, Mr Crosby added, “this is something we are currently evaluating and will provide an update once we have a better understanding of the exact cost impact”.
It was also not immediately clear what effect the new delay will have on other shipbuilding projects Seaspan is working on, which includes a new polar icebreaker to replace the coastguard flagship by 2030.
Canada has been without a permanent supply ship since 2015, when the Navy was forced to retire its two existing vessels ahead of schedule after one caught fire at sea and excessive corrosion was discovered on the other. .
The government first relied on allies to fill the void before agreeing to lease a converted civilian container ship from Chantier Davie in Quebec City. This deal was at the heart of the failed prosecution of retired Vice Admiral Mark Norman.
The former army second-in-command was accused of leaking cabinet secrets about the lease agreement with Davie, but the breach of trust charge against him was stayed in 2019 when prosecutors in the Crown concluded that they had no reasonable chance of securing a conviction. Earlier this month, the Crown also dropped its related case against a federal official. The two men had claimed their innocence.
While the initial five-year lease between Ottawa and Davie for the MV Asterix was launched in January 2018 and is due to expire next year, officials said the government is currently negotiating an extension.
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press in 2020 showed the Navy expects to continue to rely on Asterix and its allies to help resupply Canadian fleets at sea even after the two Joint Support Ships are built.
Canada originally planned to buy three new Navy support ships when it launched the project more than a decade ago, but cost overruns cut the order down to two.
Navy officials continued to indicate that two support ships were not sufficient to meet the long-term needs of the maritime force, as government policy requires the army to be able to operate two fleets. at sea at the same time.
The fear is that the Navy will be crippled any time one of the two so-called Joint Support Ships is out of commission, either for repairs or some other reason.
When asked if the government was considering buying the Asterix directly from Davie, as some observers have previously suggested, the senior official responsible for military procurement at Public Services and Procurement Canada said no.
“The discussions and negotiations at this time are only about extending the contract as we know it now,” said Simon Page, Assistant Deputy Minister.
Royal Canadian Navy Commander Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee has indicated that the Navy will continue to rely on Asterix and its allies for resupply assistance at sea, but acknowledged that both workarounds have downsides. and limits.
These include the fact that the Asterix is not designed for “high-risk environments”, Topshee added. It also means that the Navy currently cannot meet the government requirement that it must be able to operate two fleets at sea at the same time.
“Can we manage? Yes, commented Mr. Topshee. Is it ideal? No, that’s why we’re building the two Joint Support Ships. »
The new delay is the latest blow to the federal government’s efforts to replace the aging Navy and Canadian Coast Guard fleets – an effort that has already spanned more than a decade and is now expected to cost around $100 billion.
While officials blamed a combination of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and supply difficulties, many problems predate and have been attributed to both the government and the shipyards.