The owner of Canadian firm Davie Shipbuilding said on Wednesday that the key to winning a contract to build icebreakers for the United States is to develop local shipbuilding capacity there.
Davie said in June it was acquiring Texas shipyards in Galveston and Port Arthur, and on Wednesday Alex Vicefield, CEO of Davie's holding company British Inocea Group, said for the first time that the shipbuilder is bidding for the contract from the U.S. administration.
"It's under discussion how they (the U.S.) would want to do it, but certainly, the key to it is you have to develop U.S. shipbuilding capability," Vicefield told Reuters at Davie's Helsinki shipyard, where the company was beginning construction of a $3.25 billion, 139-metre (456-ft) Polar Max icebreaker bound for Canada.
Canada and Finland are renewing their icebreaker fleets, while U.S. president Donald Trump last month earmarked more than $8.6 billion for similar plans, to counter Russian and rising Chinese dominance in the polar regions.
The three nations last year signed the Ice Pact, an agreement to jointly develop their Arctic capabilities, but its future is uncertain after Trump's chaotic trade policies sent U.S.-Canadian relations on a downward spiral. Trump says his trade levies will bring jobs back to the United States.
View Full Article Here