A contract to build six new chip barges for its parent corporation will keep 200 skilled tradespeople busy at North Vancouver's Vancouver Shipyards while the company ramps up for its $8billion federal shipbuilding contract.
Vancouver Shipyards announced Monday it will build the new chip barges for Seaspan Marine Corporation.
Company spokesmen said the work will ensure workforce stability until the corporation begins to cut steel for its first noncombat navy ship.
The chip barges will measure 61 metres long and 15 metres wide by four metres deep. Construction on the new barges will begin in January 2012 and finish by January 2013.
Seaspan CEO Jonathan Whitworth said the work will allow crews to hone their skills before starting construction on a 56metre fisheries science vessel for the Coast Guard in late 2012.
