1

The National Shipbuilding Strategy Challenges and Achievements

The National Shipbuilding Strategy

Global transportation is fundamental in exchanging products and developing international

relationships. More than 80% of worldwide exchange by volume and about 70% of its worth is

performed by more than 50,000 vessels (Perry, 2017). Marine transportation is one of the first means

of exchanging commodities in history. It plays a crucial role in worldwide trading and the industrial

revolution. The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) is a great long-haul, an economic strategy that

is designed for renovating Canada’s navy. The NSS initiatives signed the agreements with two

Canadian shipyards, Irving’s Halifax Shipyard and Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards, and assigned

them to assemble the Navy and Coast Guard vessels. The types of ships planned for manufacturing

were divided into three main categories: battle, non-battle, and smaller-sized vessels (Scully, 2019).

This procedure is intended to help to construct and develop a powerful government fleet for sea

security and administrations while expanding the financial advantages of the nation.

Sector Growth

Canada’s system for acquiring armed equipment includes numerous government divisions, which

makes the process complex. Most of the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) ventures follow similar

processes as the other military administrations (Auger, 2015). However, those that are administered

through Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) are subject to a few essential changes in

bureaucracy. The critical trademark that highlights the RCN’s hardware ventures from those of the

more extensive Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is that the RCN has a generally small number of

projects. Maritime project’s financial plans typically range from $70 to $80 billion if they consist of

big volume ships (Perry, 2017). In this way, the RCN overall has not many ventures, yet an

unbalanced portion of the most expensive ones.

 2

The majority of the NSPS ventures were experiencing insufficient financing and the inability to follow

the deadlines set by the partner companies even before full agreements were set. The problem remains

for an extended period of time since the expenditures for building materials are huge (Scully, 2019).

Clearly, one of the difficulties related to the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy is that it is

hard to standardize the results since it was the first program of this kind. It is far simpler to guide the

work by using the existing techniques.

Nonetheless, the strategy should also add its own adjustments that would exclude the drawbacks of

the current models. As an example, the existing Australian variant often neglects the problem with

drawn-out estimation (Ring, 2016). The economy was at a disadvantage for the first few years of the

strategy introduction. Therefore, it was necessary to receive funds from the government and other

organizations.

On the contrary, requiring more funds to realize the strategy was not beneficial from all aspects. The

country was at risk of spending too many resources on the NSPS. Constructing the ships cost more

than 7% in comparison to other international big ship wars (Scully, 2019). There are various

contemplations that influence the expense of building ships. The planning and the work of maritime

boats are incredibly confounded and include the involvement of numerous naval designers, engineers,

and professionals from an assortment of producers (Perry, 2017). Hence, it is not merely a matter of

getting one statement from one organization. There are numerous organizations and many people

included in the planning procedure. Accordingly, it is difficult to solicit all shipyards how much they

would charge for hypothetical hardware in a hypothetical boat.

Supplier Development

Canada ensures that all types of shipbuilding companies have the opportunity to participate in the

strategy. For instance, the country encourages the building of small vessels together with the chosen

shipyards and their partnered organizations that construct the bigger ships. According to the NSPS,

fix, refit, and upkeep of boats are available for all shipyards (Auger, 2015). The program is intended to
 3

help the shipbuilding businesses and secure them from the unstable and fluctuating industry action in

the past (Perry, 2017). It is achieved by making a consistent work process for the long-term that will

continue creating exceptionally talented positions for Canadian organizations, including small and

medium-sized ventures.

Moreover, all size of business firms can trade their goods and suggest their services by using any of

the ships that are affiliated with the strategy. The organizations which were able to get the bids for

bigger vessels cannot participate in the competition for the manufacturing of smaller ships (Perry,

2017). On that account, the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy allows the involvement of all

kinds of vessel construction enterprises to keep the competitiveness of Canada among other states and

encourage small business places.

Research and Development

The program is aimed at helping the Canadian industry become more profitable and competitive in the

worldwide economy. In this manner, selling or buying merchandise by sea improved the monetary

and social prosperity of Canadians. Despite the initial costs of the realization of the program, it has

great potential in the long run. It is still nonsufficient to look at the results the NSPS has achieved

today since the strategy will prove its efficacy in more than ten years (Auger, 2015). For this reason,

the government needs to work further on the goal in order to receive the planned profits. Creating

innovative, modern, and productive shipbuilding offices have not been finished. Currently, the work is

in the progress of developing the principal vessels for both battle-related and non-related aims. A wide

range of organizations across Canada has legitimately profited by the formation of these new offices

(Perry, 2017). Despite this, it is hard to thoroughly evaluate whether they accomplish a definitive

NSPS objective. Whether the strategy will be able to revive the shipbuilding business in Canada is still

early to predict.
 4

Exports

The main reason to introduce the NSS is to facilitate the export of the country. The primary and most

beneficial export item for Canada is naval ships. Before the strategy, the state did not put much effort

into trading, even though it has an impressive background in building maritime transport. General-

purpose ships with simple, inexpensive designs are the most famous exporting goods (Fuhr, 2017).

Moreover, Canada does not only focus on selling whole ships but also provides other countries with

its compartments. Naval machinery and systems such as detectors, communication, and simulation

technologies are exported with the help of the shipbuilding strategy. Canadian L-3 MAPPS is the

largest firm that produces various naval ship control mechanisms. Its customers’ list includes the U.S.

Navy, British Royal navy, and other marine organizations from 40 different countries. Similarly, the

company called DRS Technologies trades with ship-related particles globally (Fuhr, 2017). Thus, the

export is going to develop over time if to continue working on the NSS.

Skills Development and Training

The realization of the National Shipbuilding Strategy is impossible without skilled engineers,

operationists, and ship personnel. The lack of required knowledge and abilities was a considerable

problem that demanded a lot of time and finances. Exporting goods cannot be accomplished without

capable sailors. So far, the initiatives were able to conduct special training at an affordable cost and

short time. The need in practice is reduced now, and only about 10% of members of the Royal

Canadian Navy are undergoing personnel training (Fuhr, 2017). However, the experts advise

continuing funding of workers’ lessons to maintain efficient and flexible functioning. Thus, the

program has to invest in the education of the employees to supply the workforce.

Conclusion

To conclude, there are some challenges in the shipbuilding procedure for the first period of the

agreement. Nevertheless, it continues working without ordinary political endeavors to guide ventures

to supported areas. The uniqueness of the program is that it gives the industry a solitary purpose of
 5

contact inside the government. Hence, the procedure has conveniently organized the shipyard choice

cycle. For example, the organizations or their host areas are held responsible for foundation affairs. In

this manner, specialists can accomplish the task instead of the government. The genuine advantage of

such a system is that it will originate from the progressing ideas of different renovative firms. Along

with that, the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy supports Canada’s small and medium

businesses. As aptitude is consistently developed, both the legislature and the organizations will profit

from stable work and consistent building of ships. As a result, it will convey the proper protection of

costs and competitive international transportation.

References

Auger, M. (2015). The national shipbuilding strategy: A five-year assessment [PDF document]. Web.

Fuhr, S. (2017). The readiness of Canada’s naval forces [PDF document]. Web.

Perry, D. (2017). 2016 status report on major equipment procurement. The School of Public Policy

Publications,10(22). Web.