March 13, 2014
Lévis, QC, 13th March 2014: Today, Québec Premier, Pauline Marois announced the hiring of the 850th employee at Chantier Davie Canada Inc. (‘Davie’). Together with the CEO of Davie Alan Bowen, and director Alex Vicefield, they spoke of the major achievements that took place over the past year; further strengthening Davie’s position as the only Canadian shipbuilder able to produce large vessels. Today Davie has more employees than any other shipyard in Canada. Speaking at the shipyard’s cutting-edge facility, the Premier welcomed Davie’s 850 employees. “Québec is open for business,” the Premier said, “the Davie story shows that in Québec, private industry and labor are working together to create manufacturing jobs and compete in global markets, exporting high-technology, capital-intensive equipment.” According to CEO Alan Bowen, “Davie today is Canada’s largest, most modern and highest capacity shipbuilder as well as the largest employer in the industry. We are today in full production mode and are competing in the global industry to build some of the world’s most advanced vessels. We are Canada’s global shipbuilder”. Alex Vicefield added that “Our focus is on specialized vessels which operate in harsh environments using specialized propulsion and manoeuvring systems; with multiple levels of redundancy for mission-critical applications. We are building today two ferries using cutting-edge technology built to withstand harsh ice conditions.” Over the past year, Davie has experienced one of the most impressive turnarounds in Canadian manufacturing history. Under the leadership of a world-class management team with several decades of international and Canadian shipbuilding experience, the company has been able to secure over $300M in private financing, invested $10M in new capital into modernizing the yard, created 850 new jobs, and signed a 5-year collective agreement with its labor unions. The substantial investment made means that today Davie is building five advanced vessels: three high-technology offshore oil exploration vessels for export to Norwegian clients and two liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered ferries for the Société des Traversiers du Québec (STQ). Despite the major programs underway, Davie’s vast size and facilities means that it is still only operating at 50% capacity and is able to take on new large projects.
