From Shipyards to Sovereignty
Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) Prepares for Its Next Phase
CDR asked its Senior Staff Writer, Joetey Attariwala, to reach out to key players in Canada’s Shipbuilding industry, including Tier 1 Primes (Davie, Irving and Seaspan), to get an update on the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), and for insight on how its next phase — widely viewed as NSS 2.0 — may evolve. Here is our report.
The first iteration of the National Shipbuilding and Procurement Strategy (NSPS), later renamed the National Shipbuilding Strategy, was introduced as a long-term plan to renew the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) fleets. The framework dates back to 2010, and while ambitious in scope, it entered execution without several of the foundational elements required for success.
At the same time, the government commissioned the Jenkins Report (2011), Innovation Canada: A Call to Action, which offered a clear blueprint for aligning industrial development, R&D, and major capital programs—including defence procurement. Many of its recommendations were directly relevant to the NSS, yet only parts of the report were meaningfully adopted.
“The terminology entered the system; the discipline did not,” claimed Cdr (Ret.) Ian Wood of IDH Wood Maritime Consultancy. “This created predictable gaps: A shipbuilding strategy without a fully articulated industrial strategy, a procurement system with diffuse accountability, a national program without a coherent plan for national capability development, and a generational investment without a matching long-term framework.”
In effect, Canada embraced the language of Jenkins but not the strategic intent behind it. Key industrial capabilities remained loosely defined, and ITBs and Value Propositions were applied inconsistently, limiting their ability to shape the industrial base required to sustain a modern maritime program.
Personnel planning was another area where early decisions fell short. Crewing, training, and long-term workforce development — central to any fleet’s viability — were not integrated into the initial strategy with the rigour they demanded. After decades of limited shipbuilding activity, the need for a coordinated workforce plan should have been obvious. Instead, ship classes were often scoped around technological ambition rather than a realistic assessment of RCN and CCG personnel capacity. The consequences of this misalignment have become increasingly visible.
“Looking back, the system was attempting to rebuild a national shipbuilding capability, modernize procurement, and design new fleets simultaneously — a demanding task,” said Wood. “The lessons learned from this experience now form the basis for a more coherent, more disciplined, and more strategically aligned NSS 2.0.”
Shipbuilding capability is cumulative and depends on sustained investment in facilities, a trained workforce, qualified suppliers, and production systems that translate design intent into stable build outcomes. The NSS model is designed to keep those elements active and improving over time, rather than allowing capacity to cycle between one-off projects. Fifteen years after its launch, the NSS has established three national shipbuilders as Tier 1 Primes and a growing industrial base. Canada’s shipbuilding sector is now entering a decisive period however, driven by growing defence requirements, Arctic sovereignty priorities and the long-term renewal of federal fleets.
Over the first fifteen years of Canada’s NSS, Vard Marine (Vard) has played a sustained and critical role at the front end of the shipbuilding value chain: ship design. In particular, concept and basic design are seminal phases of ship development, translating end-user operational requirements into an integrated, balanced, and optimal solution. Decisions made at this stage determine performance, capability, risk, cost, and long-term value across the entire lifecycle of a vessel. Vard’s involvement in nine NSS projects reflects the depth of its engineering capability — an investment that has generated substantial returns for the Canadian economy.
As a dedicated naval architecture and ship design company, Vard brings a depth of experience that few organizations can match. Over more than 42 years, Vard has completed many ship designs each year across a wide range of vessel types and operating environments. This sustained design cadence has enabled the company to develop and continuously refine proprietary ship design methods, data sets, and analytical tools. Leveraging this accumulated knowledge allows Vard to converge efficiently on optimal, integrated design solutions while reducing technical risk and improving cost and schedule confidence for complex naval programs.
In speaking with Vard for this feature, the company highlighted that it is important to distinguish between concept and basic design, and the later stages of functional and detailed design. While functional and detailed design are essential engineering phases, they largely expand upon and implement decisions made during basic design. By that point, the vessel’s architecture, system integration, and key performance trade-offs have already been established. Functional and detailed design execute the ship design; they do not define it.
A clear example of how early Canadian investment in ship design compounds over time is the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Leonard J. Cowley, designed by Vard in 1983. That program formed the foundation of Vard’s offshore patrol vessel (OPV) design lineage and enabled the company to evolve into a global reference player in naval OPV design. Today, Vard has six naval newbuilding programs underway around the World, all constructing ships designed by Vard in Canada — demonstrating how Canadian design capability directly translates into sustained international success.
READ: Autonomy by Design: Vard Marine – Uncrewed Systems
Early and consistent investment in Canadian ship design has already demonstrated clear benefits, including export success. Designs developed to meet demanding Canadian requirements — most notably the Canadian Polar Icebreaker and the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships — have directly supported Vard’s success in securing international programs, including the icebreaker Almirante Viel and, more recently, Project Escotillón IV for the Chilean Navy. Foreign government clients place high value on designers with proven domestic success, underscoring the importance of Canadian government contract awards in enabling international competitiveness.
“International naval customers are looking for designers with a proven track record at home,” said Derek Buxton, Vard’s Vice President of Business Development. “Canada’s willingness to invest in its own ship design capability gives Vard the credibility needed to compete, and win, on the global stage.”
This design-led approach creates Canadian-owned intellectual property with lasting economic value. By retaining control of IP in Canada, Vard enables Canadian equipment suppliers to be integrated early during concept and basic design, strengthening domestic supply chains while opening pathways to global markets. In parallel, Vard’s Canadian operations sustain well-paid, knowledge-based jobs for graduates of Canadian universities.
The Vard-led Vigilance proposal for the Continental Defence Corvette exemplifies a “designed in Canada, equipped in Canada, and built in Canada” model. Beginning at the concept stage, the program aligns end-user needs with an integrated design solution that optimizes performance, affordability, and growth potential. Team Vigilance aims to recreate the same level of national ambition — from concept through delivery — that existed in the 1990s under the Canadian Patrol Frigate Program. Through the team’s Preferred Suppliers Program, a growing coalition of Canadian companies has been embedded in the development effort, reinforcing a resilient, innovation-driven domestic industrial base.
Genoa Design International has been a notable success story of the NSS. A decade ago, along with the named shipyards and many other Canadian supply chain companies, Genoa invested in the revitalization of Canada’s shipbuilding industry.
In 2025, as Genoa marked its 30‑year anniversary, it also entered a new chapter with its acquisition by Membertou First Nation and Horizon Naval Engineering, signaling renewed strategic momentum and a reinforced commitment to strengthening Canada’s marine design and engineering capacity.
The timing aligns with significant activity within the NSS as it transitions into its next phase — with renewed national focus on Canadian procurement, Arctic capability, fleet renewal, and the long‑term sustainment of sovereign industrial expertise.
Genoa continues to contribute meaningfully to these national priorities, including its current work on the Polar Icebreaker new construction at Vancouver Shipyards and Halifax Class In-Service Support with Fleetway Inc.
As the strategy evolves, so too does the shipbuilding ecosystem. Canada is now entering a sustained period of innovation, supply‑chain development, and workforce expansion — conditions that must be cultivated to ensure small and medium‑sized enterprises like Genoa can continue to thrive.
“For companies like Genoa, winning federal work allows us to allocate more resources toward workforce development and innovation,” said Gina Pecore, CEO of Genoa Design International. “If companies can’t keep pace, we risk losing the momentum we’ve gained. Under NSS 2.0, primes must renew their commitment to cooperating closely with Canadian-owned and operated suppliers, and government must ensure these commitments are delivered. The industry and the country depend on it.”
Based in Lévis, Québec, Davie is Canada’s largest and oldest shipbuilder, with 200 years of continuous activity. Today, the company is focused on building and maintaining advanced ice-capable ships, hybrid ferries and complex support vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Navy and allied partners.
READ: Davie Autonomous Launched in Ontario
The Polar Max program represents a milestone not only for Davie, but also for Canadian shipbuilding. In March 2025, Davie signed a $3.25-billion fixed-price contract to design and build Canada’s next polar icebreaker. This is the first new polar icebreaker build contract awarded in Canada in many years, representing a significant milestone for Canadian shipbuilding. The fixed-price model is already demonstrating clear advantages for Canadians. It provides cost predictability, efficiency and schedule discipline while delivering uncompromising capability.
READ: Davie and Kraken Join forces on Production of Autonomous Vessels
The Government of Canada requires Polar Max to be delivered to Canada by 2030. To guarantee timely delivery, Davie is executing a dual-build approach across two continents, building the hull at Davie-owned Helsinki Shipyard, while Davie and its partners lead superstructure work and final integration in Lévis, Québec, thereby allowing major work to proceed simultaneously and faster.
Just five months after contract signing, Davie launched Polar Max hull construction at Helsinki Shipyard, with the first block entering drydock on August 20, 2025; an NSS record and a milestone virtually unheard of in Canadian shipbuilding for a vessel of this scale and complexity. This accelerated start runs in parallel with Davie’s major upgrade program in Lévis, Québec, so that once the hull is transported to Canada, final assembly, systems integration, and delivery can be completed in Lévis, speeding delivery while building Canadian capacity and jobs.
“Polar Max project shows that Canada can deliver complex ships faster and more predictably by combining innovation, international collaboration and disciplined execution,” said James Davies, CEO of Davie. “Our ambition is to redefine how modern ships are built and to restore advanced shipbuilding and manufacturing capabilities to the Western world, with our Lévis facility serving as the epicentre of this industrial transformation.”
According to Davie, the Polar Max is not only a ship; it’s an industrial program. Davie has already committed $200 million in investments across Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises, strengthening the domestic supply chain and accelerating the creation of high-value jobs in Lévis, across Québec and throughout Canada’s maritime sector.
Using Canadian products and materials is central to the program. Davie has already procured Canadian steel from Algoma and continues extensive research and development to maximize the use of Canadian steel in ice-capable shipbuilding. In parallel, Almaco has established permanent Canadian operations in Québec to support Polar Max, bringing world-class outfitting expertise directly into the domestic workforce and supply chain.
Davie’s work on Polar Max supports collaboration under the ICE Pact, a trilateral initiative between Canada, Finland and the United States focused on icebreaker cooperation. By working with its ICE Pact partners, Davie advanced its leadership internationally: the company has deepened integration of Helsinki Shipyard, expanded production capacity in Finland with the acquisition of Enersense Offshore in the end of 2025 and finalized the acquisition of Gulf Copper in Texas.
As the Arctic becomes increasingly central to Canada’s security and economic interests, Davie is supporting the renewal of icebreaking capacity required to maintain a sustained presence in northern waters. The Polar Max will be the first polar icebreaker to be built collaboratively between Europe and North America, and will enforce Canada and its NATO allies security in the region and contribute to critical scientific missions and environmental protection efforts.
To support its work under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Davie launched a $840-million modernization program at its Lévis shipyard, supported by a $519-million investment from the Government of Québec. The program includes the construction and modernization of facilities, improvements to waterfront infrastructure and the deployment of digital shipbuilding systems. These investments support Davie’s ability to deliver multiple NSS programs, including program icebreakers and the Polar Max icebreaker, while sustaining a long-term skilled workforce at the Lévis shipyard.
Irving Shipbuilding’s work under the NSS is focused on the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS) and River-class Destroyer (RCD) programs. Together, these programs reflect a shipbuilder delivering both capability and capacity at scale, while increasing Canadian content through a coast-to-coast supplier base.
Irving Shipbuilding employs approximately 2,400 shipbuilders in Halifax and operates the largest apprenticeship program in Atlantic Canada. More than $200 million has been invested in workforce development, enabling measurable improvements in safety, quality, schedule performance, and cost control.
In a written statement to CDR, Irving shared that the infrastructure required to build and sustain Canada’s combatant fleet remains on schedule and on budget, with no impact on ship production, and that this foundation supports value for money and long-term economic benefits. Conference Board of Canada analysis attributes nearly $15 billion in spending commitments to almost 700 Canadian organizations through 2027, average annual employment of approximately 10,600 full-time jobs across Canada between 2016 and 2027, and more than $6.3 billion in taxes, fees, and charges generated for all levels of government between 2013 and 2026.
The AOPS program is approaching completion and continues to demonstrate improving production performance across successive ships. Six AOPS have been delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy, with two more to follow for the Canadian Coast Guard. According to Irving, production remains ahead of post-pandemic schedules, and the final two vessels are on pace to deliver in approximately 20 percent fewer production hours than originally contracted. The AOPS build plan includes the launch of AOPS 7 in April, with delivery on target for November, and the AOPS 8 mega-block moveout planned for November.
These outcomes reflect a production system that integrates design coordination, planning, supply chain management, workforce development, and quality assurance. Irving stated that as the program matured, lessons learned were applied directly to later hulls. As a result, trades workforce levels have doubled since 2020, recordable injuries have declined by 50 percent, first-time quality indicators have improved by more than 20 percent, build schedules have been reduced by approximately two years, and total production hours have been cut roughly in half.
Irving shared that the same production discipline is now being applied beyond new ship construction where Halifax-class sustainment and repair work is piloting planning execution changes intended to transform schedule certainty and cost performance, with early results indicating improved outcomes in docking work periods and ship availability.
The River-class Destroyer program represents the next major build sequence and a key indicator of Canada’s ability to sustain complex combat ship production. Full-rate production began in April 2025. The program objective, according to Irving, is to deliver a lead ship that more closely resembles a follow ship, reducing non-recurring effort and risk. The program draws directly on AOPS experience, a stabilized workforce, and established yard operating discipline. Keel laying is expected by June 2026.
Located on the West coast, Seaspan Shipyards operations for the NSS include Vancouver Shipyards, Vancouver Drydock, and Victoria Shipyards. A significant infrastructure upgrade was completed at Vancouver Shipyards in September 2025 — a new 272 m Outfitting Pier. The steel and concrete pier is designed with modern utilities, heavy load capacity, and environmental safeguards, replacing a timber pier from 1966. It will assist with the outfitting being done for the ships Seaspan is building and is already in use on the future HMCS Protecteur.
The most exciting piece of news from 2025 was Seaspan’s fourth ship delivery under the NSS: the CCG’s new Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel, CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk. This highly complex ship is a floating laboratory, with specialized equipment that includes several advanced wet and dry labs, an ocean sampling room, a scientific seawater system for studying oxygen levels, temperature and salinity, and a state-of-the-art drop keel and sensor suite for collecting and analyzing data. It is a Polar Class 6 vessel and will be based at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax, N.S.
Seaspan also began construction on the CCG’s new heavy Polar Icebreaker, the only heavy Polar Icebreaker to be fully built in Canada. Steel for the ship was first cut in April 2025, and since then considerable progress has been made on block construction. The ship’s keel laying ceremony will be this fall.
A core tenet of the NSS is to not only build ships, but to build a sustainable, domestic shipbuilding ecosystem. To that end, Seaspan recently signed two agreements with local fabricators Ideal Welders and Tri-Metal Fabricators to construct some parts and blocks for the new Polar Icebreaker. Seaspan has a long-standing, successful partnership with Ideal Welders which has constructed many components of the ships Seaspan has built, including the bulbous bows of both Joint Support Ships, HMCS Protecteur and HMCS Preserver.
In the summer, Seaspan’s Victoria Shipyards celebrated the opening of a new 40,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility near Shawnigan Lake. The facility provides much needed space to produce pipe spools and other equipment that will eventually be installed on the polar icebreaker.
Outfitting work continues at Vancouver Shipyards for the first Joint Support Ship (JSS), the future HMCS Protecteur, which is now projected for sea trials later in 2026. At the same time, considerable progress has been made on the construction of the second JSS, the future HMCS Preserver — the ship’s hull grew considerably over the course of 2025, with the ship now consolidated from the bow to the engine room along the main deck. Construction will continue throughout the year until the vessel is launched in late 2026, according to Seaspan.
In May 2025, Victoria Shipyards delivered HMCS Calgary back to the RCN, marking the successful completion of the second full Docking Work Period under Seaspan’s Halifax-Class Work Period contract. The project involved more than 1,000 trades personnel and office staff to provide a range of engineering upgrades, equipment installations, preventative and corrective maintenance, and critical dry-docking activities to ensure the frigate remains operationally available and relevant through to the end of service life once the River-Class vessels are delivered.
Seaspan continues to progress through the design and engineering phase of the Multi-Purpose Icebreaker (MPI) program with the intent to build 16 of these ships for the CCG, broken down in three flights. The Functional Design Review Meeting for the first flight of six MPIs was successfully completed last summer, and further preparations are being made to begin construction on the first ship in 2027.
Notably, Seaspan’s MPI design was selected by the U.S. Coast Guard for six of its new Arctic Security Cutters. Rauma Marine in Finland will build up to two vessels in Finland with delivery expected in 2028 and Bollinger Shipyards will construct up to four cutters in the U.S; the first vessel is expected in 2029.
“2025 was a transformational year at Seaspan Shipyards and the Canadian defence industry,” said Dave Hargreaves, SVP – Business Development, Strategy and Communications, Seaspan Shipyards. “In both North Vancouver and Victoria, the NSS milestones we celebrated represent ships that will serve as integral pieces of Canada’s security and defence ecosystem and represent the continued re-emergence of shipbuilding in Canada.”
Ontario is home to the most significant underutilized shipyard capacity in Canada, as well as the largest industrial manufacturing base in the country. As the Ontario government continues to support the shipbuilding sector through the Ontario Marine Strategy and the Ontario Shipbuilding Grant program, the clearest path to increasing Canada’s Sovereign defence capability in the marine sector is to engage Ontario Shipyards as a strategic partner in the small/medium vessel new build programs.
“With the support of the Ontario Government, Ontario heavy industry, and Ontario shipyards, Ontario can and should be a meaningful partner in Canada’s marine defence sector,” said Ted Kirkpatrick, Director of Business Development and Government Relations at Ontario Shipyards. “Ontario Shipyards continues to expand its capabilities in Ontario through the continuation of the CCGS Terry FOX Vessel Life Extension [VLE] and one of the busiest commercial winter works seasons on record. While we continue to be actively engaged on the repair side, Ontario Shipyards has yet to be engaged in the NSS in a meaningful way. A significant number of CCG and DND small/medium vessels and the Canadian Multi-Mission Corvette program have yet to be allocated to Canadian shipyards. Furthermore, the demand for repair and VLE work is predicted to increase in the coming decade, as well as a need to build a sovereign maintenance capability for the RCN’s future submarine fleet. As this pressure on Canadian shipyards increases and the necessity of significantly increasing Canada’s defence spending becomes more acute, it is becoming increasingly clear that Canada needs to engage a fourth strategic shipbuilding partner.”
WHAT NSS 2.0 MUST BECOME
The first phase of NSS has allowed for long term predictability and allowed for infrastructure investment across all three yards to support a stabilized throughput for the current NSS contracts and bodes well for the follow-on projects.
Although the NSS is making great strides, the NSS policy framework has not consistently prioritized ship design — particularly concept and basic design — as a sovereign Canadian capability. While significant progress has been made in revitalizing domestic shipyards, the front-end design function — where requirements are defined, risks are mitigated, and value is locked in — has not always been treated as a strategic national asset. Moving forward, prioritizing concept and basic design in Canada must be a core element of a truly sovereign shipbuilding capability.
As Vard Marine President Wade Carson emphasized, “Shipbuilding sovereignty begins with design. Concept and basic design are where operational requirements are integrated, risks are reduced, and long-term value is created. Canada’s ability to design its own ships is fundamental to controlling cost, capability, and industrial outcomes — and to competing successfully on the global stage.”
The next generation of the NSS must also fully embrace principles that naval and Coast Guard professionals understand instinctively: standardization, modularity, interoperability, digital integration, and continuous production.
It should also recognize that maritime readiness depends on predictable production, resilient supply chains, and the integration of advanced technologies — from radar and sonar to autonomous systems and digital ship-management tools. The Continental Defence Corvette, as the next major combatant program, will be an important part of the next stage of the NSS.
NSS 2.0 must also ensure that SMEs play a priority role across the full vessel lifecycle: design, construction, in‑service support and decommissioning. These areas draw heavily on the specialized, experience‑driven knowledge of Canadian firms, particularly in relation to Arctic operations, multi‑mission platforms, and lifecycle support.
Progress is underway through initiatives such as the Defence Investment Agency and the Buy Canadian policy framework. The long-anticipated Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) is expected to further streamline procurement and hopefully unlock more than $6.3 billion in unmet marine‑sector Industrial and Technological Benefits.
Yet the path forward is not without risk. Global competition, strains in the Canada – U.S. relationship, and increasing platform complexity all heighten the need for a strong, coordinated national industrial base — one that can support and serve Canada and its allies amidst new geopolitical realities.
NSS 2.0 will need to focus on the shift to a national coordinated enterprise across the strategic shipyards and government to create a permanent national shipbuilding rhythm with continuous rolling production lines and long-term predictability for the shipyards and for the rest of industry that supports the shipbuilding enterprise.
“The goal is to create a predictable production cadence by doing long term force development planning to specify requirements to identify technological advances required to meet new threats and environments,” said Darcy Byrtus, Senior Associate at David Pratt and Associates / Former President BMT Canada. “These requirements can feed spiral development for the follow on for each of the classes consistent with the new Defence Industrial Strategy. A DIS-driven procurement roadmap would strengthen sovereign industrial capacity and give clearer visibility on future sequencing, workforce planning, and capital investment. This national strategy should provide opportunities to establish nationwide training programs for workforce pipelines for the wide range of skilled trades, engineering and management expertise required to support this enterprise.”
The evolution of NSS must mean close cooperation between the Government and participants in the sector in the development and building of the future fleet and supporting Canadian industry. If done right, there is much to be optimistic about.
Joetey Attariwala is CDR’s Senior Staff Writer
