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Icebreaker fleet worries shipowners

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Date
January 14, 2019
Categories
News

January 14, 2019, by Jean-François Codère, The Press

Another January, another winter of increased concern for shipowners who frequent the St. Lawrence, who fear that the Coast Guard will suffer from breakdowns in its outdated equipment and that it will no longer be able to ensure traffic on the river.

Right now, there is no problem,

Marc Gagnon, vice-president of government affairs at Fednav, Canada's largest ocean bulk carrier

"And I want to make it clear that we have no problem with the people in the Coast Guard, who know their job and do what they can with what they have. The problem is that we don't think they have what it takes to deal with all the situations that may arise."

It wouldn't take much, according to several people interviewed, for the situation to degenerate. One or two breakdowns, relatively frequent on a fleet that is, with one exception, 40 years old or more, a few days of extreme cold...

We're lucky so far, but you never know how it might turn out. Winter started early, but it's been pretty mild so far. But all it takes is a few cold days.

Martin Fournier, general manager of the Armateurs du Saint-Laurent, a group

"What we don't know is when the next icebreaker will break," Nicole Trépanier, president of the Société de développement économique du Saint-Laurent (SODES), immediately adds. "There was a ferry that broke down on the Côte-Nord and we talked about it every day. Imagine if the river had to be closed for a while."

The last few years have been relatively prosperous for the ports of the St. Lawrence, starting with Montreal, which set a fifth consecutive record in 2018. But it's all a question of confidence, recalls Daniel Dagenais, vice-president of operations at the port.

"Shipowners, customers, importers are all aware that the ships are old and that some of them have already been missing. This leads to thinking about whether the St. Lawrence is a reliable destination."

"If a container line decides that it is no longer reliable to go to Montreal, they will go elsewhere and they will not come back," adds Marc Gagnon.

DECADES OF HESITATION

The icebreaker issue has been dragging on in Ottawa for years now, recalls Ms. Trépanier.

“I have been in the maritime sector for 20 years, and we were already talking about renewing the fleet when I arrived.”

Politically, adding ships is not particularly attractive, she agrees. Unless they are built in Canada. But that is not a simple matter.

I don't object to that, but in this case it means that the deadlines have been extended.

Nicole Trépanier, President of the Saint-Laurent Economic Development Society (SODES)

The first new icebreaker is scheduled to enter construction in Vancouver in 2023, if all goes according to plan. Previous plans called for it to enter service in 2017. It will likely not be completed until 2027 and will be destined for the Arctic. Only then will construction of other icebreakers, this time destined for the St. Lawrence, begin.

Ordering new icebreakers from abroad would be cheaper and much faster, Trépanier said.

"We want icebreakers, no matter where they come from. We are no longer at the planning stage to have them made in Canada."

The Coast Guard has had the benefit of a new aircraft for several weeks, purchased second-hand from Norway. Ottawa has purchased three. The other two will have to be updated by the Davie shipyard, as the first was. The next one should enter service in a year at best.

"They are not pure icebreakers," Mr. Fournier points out. "They are supplementary aids."

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