Seaspan Shipyards, Heddle ink teaming agreement for Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker tender

Canadian builders Seaspan Shipyards and Heddle Shipyards have entered into an exclusive teaming agreement for the Canadian Coast Guard’s future polar icebreaker.

Under the terms of the agreement, if Seaspan Shipyards is awarded the tender, Heddle will fabricate ship modules at its three Ontario shipyards.

Canada’s existing polar icebreaker, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, the only ship in the Canadian fleet capable of year-round operations in the Arctic, is in its sixth decade of service.

According to the request for information issued by Public Services and Procurement Canada in February, a replacement is needed by 2029 in order to continue to support Canada’s economy and year-round marine trade, to resupply Canada’s Arctic communities and industries, and to conduct search and rescue and environmental response operations in the Far North.