Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen ready for Arctic service
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Work on ship part of $6-million contract awarded to Seaway Marine and Industrial
ST. CATHARINES, Ont.—The federal government says work is finished on a Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaking ship that will now head back to service in the country’s Arctic waters.
The Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Amundsen, a medium ice-breaker serving Canada’s north, is set to leave St. Catharines, Ont., after eight months of work at Seaway Marine and Industrial Inc.
Work began last October in St. Catharines, approximately 20 kilometres northwest of Niagara Falls, Ont., to perform engine repairs and install new generators on the ship.
The work was part of a $6-million contract awarded to Seaway Marine and Industrial.
“We are creating a strong, ship-building nation and developing long-term economic opportunities for the Canadian shipbuilding industry while also ensuring the highest value for taxpayers’ money,” Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship of Immigration and Member of Parliament for St. Catharines Rick Dykstra said in a statement.
Through an agreement with Université Laval in Quebec, the CCGS Amundsen has been converted into an Arctic science vessel and made available to the ArcticNet program for groundbreaking scientific research.
The repairs to the CCGS Amundsen are part of the unprecedented investment to the Canadian Coast Guard’s fleet renewal program from Economic Action Plan 2012.
Through this investment, the Government will extend the lives of 16 Coast Guard vessels and complete mid-life modernizations on an additional two existing hovercraft over the next 10 years.
