British Columbia's transport minister says he has raised concerns with B.C. Ferries about its decision to have a Chinese shipyard build four new ferries for its passenger fleet, amid an ongoing trade conflict between Canada and China.
Mike Farnworth said he's worried about procuring services from "any country that is actively harming Canada’s economy" with tariffs and protectionism.
Farnworth's remarks come hours after the announcement by B.C. Ferries CEO Nicolas Jimenez that China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards had won the contract.
Jimenez said he wasn't worried about geopolitical tensions between Canada and China, adding his primary focus was getting the province a good deal. He said CMI Weihai was selected because the company is a global leader in passenger-ferry construction and shipbuilding.
Farnworth said in a statement that B.C. Ferries is an independent company, but he's disappointed "more involvement from Canadian shipyards" wasn't part of the contract.
Farnsworth's office declined a request for an interview.
The ferry company made its decision following a global procurement process that began in 2021 and included international site visits and third-party reference checks.
“It was the clear choice based on the overall strength of its bid, including its technical capabilities, high-quality and safety standards, ferry-building experience, proven ability to deliver safe, reliable vessels on dependable timelines, and the overall cost and value it delivers for our customers — all essential as we continue to experience growing demand and the urgent need to renew our aging fleet,” Jimenez said in a statement.
The four major vessels are expected to be in service by 2031, replacing aging vessels in the B.C. Ferries fleet.
B.C. Ferries did not disclose the costs of the four vessels in the announcement, but said the final price was within the approval limits provided by the B.C. Ferries Commissioner.
Disclosing the cost could compromise B.C. Ferries’ ability to get good deals on future procurement, it said.
Ed Hooper, B.C. Ferries’ head of fleet renewal, said the ferry company will be stationing a team of about 20 staff and contractors at CMI Weihai’s shipyard throughout construction to provide oversight and ensure quality.
CMI Weihai has previously worked with major shipbuilding companies such as Sweden’s Stena RoRo and Italy’s Grimaldi lines to provide ferry vessels to French companies, and has built vessels for Marine Atlantic Ferry Company, a Crown corporation that operates a ferry line between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
Hooper said his team inspected the shipyard during the selection process and that B.C Ferries is confident CMI Weihai will be able to meet safety and quality standards while delivering the vessels on time, calling the scale and scope of the operations “impressive.”
He said CMI Weihai, one of 20 shipyards determined to be qualified to take the order, has many years of expertise in building the roll-on, roll-off vessels that B.C. Ferries wanted. “This shipyard has everything that we are looking for,” he said.
Colin Cooke, president and chief executive of the Canadian Marine Industries and Shipbuilding Association, previously called for governments to prohibit government entities and Crown corporations from buying or leasing Chinese-built vessels to protect Canadian industry and national security and to ensure that human rights and ethical business practices are upheld.
In a statement last year, Cooke called for a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-built ships imported into Canada — similar to those imposed on Chinese-built electric vehicles.
He said in the statement that China’s shipbuilding industry operates under a doctrine where commercial ship exports are subsidized to strengthen the country’s military capabilities. “The very shipyards that produce ferries and cargo vessels for the global market are also used to construct warships,” Cooke said.
"[A]s China’s navy continues to grow, it increasingly uses its fleet to challenge Canadian interests and those of our allies in regions extending even to our own Arctic waters.”
Mike Corrigan, chief executive officer of Interferry, an international ferry organization, said the vast majority of his association’s members have shifted their large ferry orders to Chinese shipyards, as there are few remaining shipyards outside China that still have the desire, expertise and infrastructure required to build and provide support for ferries with large vehicle and passenger capacities.
No Canadian shipbuilder submitted bids for B.C. Ferries’ latest vessel-construction contract.
The ferry company’s Island-class electric vessels were built in Romania and its Salish-class vessels were built in Poland.
The three Coastal-class vessels — Inspiration, Renaissance and Celebration — were built in Germany at a total cost of more than $500 million.
Seaspan, which owns the province’s largest shipyards, has said in the past it cannot compete with companies based in low-wage countries that have lower employment, environmental and safety standards, and it had hoped some of the new vessels B.C. Ferries is looking to build would be made in B.C.
On Tuesday, Seaspan said in a statement that it was currently building ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard at its North Vancouver shipyard.
"We look forward to exploring how this capability can be leveraged to build future B.C. ferries here at home, and therefore generate the strategic industrial and significant socio-economic benefits associated with capital projects of this nature for British Columbians."
In a statement, the Opposition B.C. Conservatives accused Premier David Eby of "abandoning Canadian workers" by awarding a "multibillion-dollar" contract to a Chinese state-owned enterprise.
Based out of the major shipbuilding city of Weihai in Shandong province, China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards has been owned by China Merchants Group since 2019.
The state-run conglomerate was founded in 1872 during the Qing Dynasty as a merchant house and has since become a pivotal player in China’s economy, with sprawling subsidiary operations in transportation, finance, and property.
B.C. Ferries said the four vessels will bring more than $230 million into the local marine economy through refits and scheduled maintenance in the first 10 years of service.
The vessels, which are expected to last for 45 years, will need more than $1 billion worth of maintenance and refits over their lifespans.
