Ottawa’s patrol ships order not changing: Irving Shipbuilding president

HALIFAX – The president of Irving Shipbuilding says a report that the federal government is changing its order for Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) is not true.

Kevin McCoy made the remarks to a crowd of more than 100 people in Halifax during the All Ships Rise Conference on Wednesday.

His speech was expected to provide updates on the government’s shipbuilding project and its economic impact in Nova Scotia, but instead, he began by addressing the elephant in the room.

“We have received absolutely no change from our customer in terms of what our near term or long term work load should be, or their need for ships,” he said. “We fully expect in January to sign a contract to build the first six ships exactly as planned and scheduled.”

On Tuesday, The Canadian Press reported the federal government could be scaling back its AOPS order from six vessels to five with the possibility of a sixth.

McCoy said $424 million has been committed so far through the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy to modernize the company’s shipyard and for the design of the ships, which is almost 95 per cent complete.

He said almost 80 per cent of that money has been invested in Canadian companies, half of which are based in Nova Scotia.

“He’s assuring us things are on schedule, things are on track, there’s nothing changed, and they fully expect to proceed as they originally announced,” said Valerie Payne, president of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. “So that’s good news for Nova Scotia.”

Payne said it was too early to say what kind of impact a change in the order could have on Halifax.