Canadian Coast Guard Ship Hudson—Refitting Delays

Context

Delays in completing the refit of the CCGS Hudson will impact its planned science work. Scheduled science programming aboard the vessel is expected to be delayed, rescheduled, or canceled. The Canadian Coast guard has mitigation measures in place.

Suggested Response

• The Government is delivering on its commitment to renew the Canadian Coast Guard fleet, create jobs and opportunities for hard working middle-class Canadians and revitalize our marine industry.
• This includes refitting the CCGS Hudson which is an important part of the federal fleet.
• Additional required work, unexpected asbestos abatement, and long lead times to acquire critical parts have caused delays in refitting the CCGS Hudson.
• For vessel life extension projects, it is common to have to adjust the sequence of work based on what is found in initial inspections.
• We always focus on the work required to ensure the safety of those on board and the environment in which our fleet operates.

If pressed on science programming implications:

• We remain committed to monitoring Canada’s marine waters, which are some of the most productive marine environments in the world.
• Research survey cancellations do sometimes occur due to unexpected ship malfunction and repair, inclement weather, and/or ship re-assignment (e.g., for search-and-rescue duties).
• Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard continue to develop contingency plans to mitigate the impact to planned science work and to the policy and management decisions this work supports. These plans include investigating options within the Canadian Coast Guard fleet as well as other research vessel service providers.
• Should cancellations occur data will be collected using other oceanographic instrumentation such as remote-sensing platforms and ocean gliders.

Background

A $10-million refit contract was awarded on February 13, 2019, to St. John's Dockyard Ltd. in Newfoundland for a dry-docking refit of the CCGS Hudson. The refit work started February 25, 2019 and was expected to take six months to complete. During work on interior spaces of the ship, workers from the shipyard encountered paint containing lead resulting in a delay to the project. The Coast Guard and the shipyard were able to mitigate this by allocating additional resources and rescheduling some work.

Following this discovery of new work, unexpected asbestos abatement, and long lead times to acquire critical parts during its refit caused further delays. The Canadian coast guard (CCG) was informed November 27, 2019 by the shipyard that the delivery date will not be met. The vessel is now expected to return to service in mid-to-late 2020.

Date modified:

2023-05-10