Seaspan is preparing to expand its shipyard in North Vancouver, B.C., says the company’s CEO.

Responding to questions from Connect during a scrum with reporters on Tuesday, John McCarthy said Seaspan will commence construction in September on a new assembly-hall project.

“The investment in the investment side is about $65 million to $70 million and it’s four big [stations],” said McCarthy, standing in a different assembly facility at the shipyards.

“I don’t have the square metres [i.e. size] off top of my head, but it’s quite large,” said McCarthy “This has eight stations, so it’s about half the size of this hall.”

Seaspan is also upgrading its bla

McCarthy said the new hall will enable the company to build larger blocks of a ship.

Seaspan hopes to open the new assembly hall within 18 months of the construction launch.

“We’re also upgrading our blast-and-paint facilities here,” said McCarthy.

But future expansion efforts will be limited due to the size of the shipyard’s footprint.

“Unfortunately, shipyards are usually constrained by the towns that are around them, so we don’t have any more land here in North Vancouver,” said McCarthy. “But we’re looking at partnerships with other companies that could build blocks for us [so] that we could barge them in and then erect them here.”

McCarthy made the comments as Seaspan and federal officials celebrated the 15th anniversary of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, which awards government contracts to shipbuilders. Seaspan continues to build a number of ships under the strategy, including an Arctic icebreaker project now underway.

As of this month, approximately $15.3 billion has been awarded to Pacific region companies under the NSS, said the government.

Pictured: Seaspan executives and workers, along with federal government officials and First Nations leaders, celebrate the 15th anniversary of the National Shipbuilding Strategy on Tuesday as the company’s shipyard in North Vancouver, B.C.

Photo: Courtesy of Seaspan