The union representing B.C. ferry workers has joined the chorus of critics opposing a plan to build four new major vessels in a Chinese shipyard.
“What we’re looking to see is both a short-term solution, you know, build these first four ferries in Canada or at least a majority of them in Canada, and then moving to vessels five, six, seven, eight —those should be built in Canada, no question,” said Eric McNeely, president of the B.C. Ferry Marine Workers’ Union.
BC Ferries set off a political firestorm this spring when it announced that it would purchase its next four vessels from China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards (CMI Weihai) after a lengthy open bid process.
No Canadian shipyards bid on the project, and the ferry company says the Chinese bid came in at about $1.2 billion cheaper than European competitors.
But the decision landed in the middle of a vastly shifted political landscape, including a global trade war and a surging ‘buy Canadian’ movement.
B.C.-based shipbuilder Seaspan has said it is already fully occupied building Coast Guard and navy vessels for the National Shipbuilding Strategy. But it also said BC Ferries had not offered any financial incentives to Canadian yards, and that the domestic cost of labour meant it could not compete with overseas shipbuilders on price alone.
McNeely acknowledged that building in Canada will cost more up front, but said that is money that would be injected into the local economy, rather than sent overseas.
“Those are billions of dollars worth of construction, billions of dollars worth of labour, and hundreds of millions of dollars in raw materials, materials that Canada produces and is looking for a market for,” he said.
He further argued that buying from a foreign supplier means potential additional costs and delays during future maintenance when BC Ferries needs to wait for parts or specialists to arrive.
He said there are additional public interest benefits to building at home, including generational opportunities in the trades and post-secondary training that support them.
It also supports Canada’s sovereignty and long-term economic security, he argued.
“If we continue to hollow out domestic capacity, we won’t be able to build ships in the future. That means that domestically, we don’t have any leverage to apply to an international builder to say, ‘Hey, we want a good price on this,’” he said.
“It’s not just about ferries. It’s about an industrial strategy that looks out for Canadians and, at the same time, develops our capacity internally.”
BC Ferries spokesperson Jeff Groot said the company did have conversations with Canadian shipbuilders ahead of the procurement process, and even adjusted some of its criteria to ensure they could qualify to bid.
He said Canadian builders are currently at capacity with federal contracts, which would have meant a delay in getting ferries for B.C. into the water.
“Unfortunately, what happened was no Canadian ship here did bid, and that means that we couldn’t consider them in how we were awarding this contract,” he said.
More than 100 ships now in service in Canada have been produced in Chinese yards in the last decade, he said, including a ferry for Marine Atlantic Ferries, a federal Crown corporation, that was built in the very same yard BC Ferries is using.
Groot added that in the absence of significant additional government funding, any additional cost to build the ferries would end up inflating fares for ferry passengers.
“Any additional dollar that we spend is something that we need to get back from our customers,” Groot said.
“It’s not a model like other public transit agencies or even other ferry corporations, where we get significant funding from governments that offset these costs. Our customers pay almost 80 per cent of the total company’s costs.”
BC Ferries currently charges $95 for a car and driver plus $15 per passenger one-way on its major southern routes, and has warned that it could be forced to further hike fares by 30 per cent by 2028.
BC Ferries will also spend about $1 billion on maintenance, repair and refits for the new ferries at BC yards over their lifespan, Groot said.
The ferry company has further argued it is critical to get the vessels in service as soon as possible, as it grapples with repeated mechanical issues in its aging fleet and associated cancellations.
Despite the ferry company’s arguments, the decision to build overseas has sparked ongoing controversy — drawing criticism from government and opposition figures at both the provincial and federal levels.
The federal parliamentary Transport Committee has launched a probe into a $1 billion loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank for the project, with federal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland telling MPs Friday she was “dismayed” by the CMI Weihai deal.
McNeely, meanwhile, said the union has launched a new campaign called “build them here” to try and pressure public officials to prioritize domestic shipbuilding.
“This is public dollars,” he said.
“So that’s public dollars for Canadian ferries, and that should create Canadian jobs, and that should strengthen Canadian industry.”