Davie is Canada’s premier shipbuilder and a global leader in the delivery of specialist, mission-critical vessels to government and commercial customers.
Davie facility capacity and capability
Invested in construction programs and the Davie facility since 2012
Of all Québec shipbuilding and repair industry workers were employed by Davie in 2019
Expected new investment into Davie
Building on 200 years of expertise, there has never been a more compelling time for Davie. Since the acquisition by Inocea Group in 2012 we have delivered many industry firsts, including some of the world’s most complex and pioneering vessels: Dynamically positioned subsea construction vessels, dual-fuel ferries, and a combat support ship, which was the largest and greenest naval vessel ever delivered by a Canadian facility.
Inocea buys Davie, after a competitive process with approval from federal and provincial governments.
Initial work on Program Icebreakers (PIBs) set to begin.
Construction of PIB ongoing
First PIB set to be delivered; work on rest of fleet ongoing; potential extension of patrol frigate maintenance contract
Our sustained success over the decades to come is rooted in six key attributes that solidify Davie’s unique position as Canada’s premier shipbuilder:
Our shipyard holds 50% of Canada’s total shipbuilding capacity, with the capability to build several ships simultaneously.
As a partner in Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy, our orderbook of high-margin contracts extends well into the 2040s.
Our people hail from all over the world and have built a reputation of excellence, especially in complex, mission-critical and time-sensitive projects.
With over 700 ships built, we have become a maritime centre of excellence in Québec and maintain thousands of ships in Canada and around the world.
Favouring value over volume and pioneering renewable energy concepts, we relentlessly pursue technological and environmental innovation.
In an organic and mutually beneficial relationship with city, region and country, Davie supports thousands of jobs and generates millions of dollars in small business revenue.
When one of the pioneers in the new world, Captain Allison Davie, founded his shipbuilding company in 1825, he also laid a cornerstone for the birth of a nation. Ships built in the Québecois company enabled the vital trade and transport of goods across the world, defended the budding nation in times of crisis and powered rebuilding in the following years. Over the course of two centuries, the successes of the Canadian nation and Davie have been intertwined and they continue on that same trajectory. Embodying Canada’s proud maritime tradition, Davie looks to the future, with its roots firmly planted in the heritage and history of the nation it helped to build.
Davie was established by English sea captain Allison Davie and spent the first 60 years building some of the world’s largest sail and steam driven ships. Primarily for English shipowners, Davie’s ships were used for transporting people and cargo around the world. If you want to learn more about our origins, visit www.acdavie.com.
With Canada’s ever-increasing population and new infrastructure and export requirements, Davie spent the next 30 years building ferries and cargo ships for the government as well as private shipowners using new forms of propulsion systems for steel ship construction.
With WWI now underway, Davie focused its attention on meeting the needs of allied navies. Over the next six years, Davie would build over 300 vessels for the French, British and Canadian navies. With merchant shipping coming under attack from German submarines at one point leaving Britain with only six weeks of food supply, Davie produced over 200 submarine chasers to counter the threat.
With the Great War now over, Davie focused its attention on building some of the world’s then largest freighters and passenger ships for its then owner, Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). Davie’s contribution to Canada Steamship Line during this period was a key contributor to making CSL what it is today.
WWII sparked a second rush by allied countries for ships. As opposed to the Great War of 1914-1918, this time the theatre for war was primarily at sea which meant Davie had to produce more sophisticated vessels to combat the new threat. Davie built over 60 ships during this short period for the Canadian, British and French navies. These included corvettes, frigates and landing craft for active operations as well as minesweepers and auxiliary ships to support the navies and merchant shipping fleet.
With the war now over and rapid globalization taking place, Davie became one of the world’s leading commercial shipbuilders attracting orders for general cargo ships, bulk carriers, tankers and fishing vessels from clients all over the world. Having delivered some of the strategically most important ships during the Second World War, Davie also went on to build series after series of surface combatants for the Canadian and international navies during this period. At that time, Davie also expanded its general engineering capabilities to tackle a number of complex infrastructure projects.
With offshore natural resources being exploited all over the world, Davie focused its attention on applying the skills it had learnt on new ship technologies to address global demand. This resulted in a series of jack-up drilling rigs being built at Davie for clients such as Petrobras, as well as other clients in South America and Europe. Other accomplishments included the first floating metal mine to operate in Canada’s harsh Northwest Territories environment.
From 1991, Davie began a frigate construction program for the Canadian government. The highly successful Canadian Patrol Frigate Project provided Canada with a series of world-class surface combatants. Today, the City-Class frigates built at Davie play a key role in the War on Terrorism as well as protecting Canada’s sovereignty. During this period, Davie also developed and delivered two large special Ro-Pax ferries for Marine Atlantic with a bow loading door.
Following the governmental programs, Davie diverted its attention to projects where it could leverage its capability to manage and deliver complex projects. In keeping with its focus on the oil & gas market, Davie performed a series of major vessel and rig conversions such as a semi-submersible production platform for Petrobras and a dynamically positioned pipelay vessel for US-based clients. With its ability to produce compound curves, Davie also produced sonar domes for over 90 United States naval surface combatants.
Davie, Canada’s premier facility was a sleeping giant. Changes were needed to put Davie back where it belonged among Canada’s most prominent industrial assets. With the arrival of Inocea in 2012, the company started seeing the creation of teams combining the best Canadian and international talent and over $1 bn of investment in the facility, systems and construction programs.
After a prolonged period of struggle and dormancy, Davie was purchased by the Inocea Group, which saw immense potential in the Lévis facility. Over the following decade, Inocea revitalized Davie. It created teams marrying international expertise with the best of Québec, bringing over $1 billion of private capital to Lévis. It delivered much-needed vessels to the RCN and CCG as well as Canada’s single largest export in 2014. Today, Davie is a stable and assured Québec company, with a pipeline of guaranteed work for the next 20+ years under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy.
Safely building and sustaining Canadian ships by leveraging the country’s highest capacity shipyard with world-class expertise and providing affordable fit-for-purpose fleet renewal and through-life support solutions.
Recognized as Canada’s premier shipyard, providing national strategic capabilities, regional career opportunities and economic benefits for generations to come.
Maintain and expand core federal and provincial government business
Invest for profitable growth in our infrastructure, people and culture
Create high-value, scalable proprietary solutions through centres of excellence
Diversify into key adjacencies and high-growth international markets
Teams, not individuals, win in business. This ethos is personified by Davie’s top management, whose diverse and complementary skills are backed up by decades of general business and shipbuilding experience.
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