2023-05-31 01:41:15
About thirty entrepreneurs and mayors have just returned from a visit to European shipyards. They intend to draw inspiration from it in order to prepare for future federal government contracts on the South Shore. Although negotiations are still underway, Chantier Davie hopes to obtain contracts for the construction of seven icebreakers. The Quebec government announced in April that it would invest $519 million to help modernize the site, which should begin in 2024. Megahangars are to be built on Lévis soil.
New land will have to be found, since shipyards in France tell us that, as a general rule, suppliers must be as close as possible to the installation
explains the mayor.
Nearly 1,000 suppliers across Quebec will be called upon to work for the site once the contracts have been officially signed and awarded by Ottawa. However, given the scale of the rooms to be built and the tight deadlines, many will have to move to the south shore of the St. Lawrence.
« [Ce dont] we realized, is that 75% of all the work is carried out by companies surrounding the site! »
In theory, Chantier Davie hopes to deliver its first icebreaker to the Canadian Coast Guard in 2030.
It is sure that it will bring us a chain of suppliers who will quickly need sites. But we are able to organize ourselves
launches the mayor.
Gilles Lehouillier is counting on the industrial and innovation park to find spaces there. No question of touching agricultural land, he said.
No no! We will not touch the agricultural zoning. We have the space we need. But we have to get organised, we have to arrange this whole arrival.
Rethinking Lévis as living environment
The mayor of Lévis has also been repeating it for years now, the economic boom will be Extremely important
for his city. He will have to review travel in town, public transport and access to the site. The housing shortage will also be on the menu.
We are talking regarding at least 2,500 new workers who will be added only on the construction site. But imagine the suppliers around!
« We are going to become an attractive center for immigration. »
The City of Lévis will also create a strategic working committee to support shipbuilding at home.
Suppliers will also have to increase their production capacity by 20 to 30% to meet the needs of Chantier Davie. The challenge of finding labor promises to be difficult.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
Settling in Lévis: a necessity
On the other side of the river, in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Gaétan St-Jean also returns from France. The president of EBM Laser already works as a supplier to Chantier Davie. He manufactures and cuts steel and aluminum parts. But the federal contracts promise to be unprecedented.
%. And that’s for all the subcontractors connected to the site “,”text”:”It will be an obligation to increase our production capacity by more than 20 to 30%. And that’s for all the subcontractors connected to the site “”>It will be an obligation to increase our production capacity by more than 20 to 30%. And that is for all the subcontractors connected to the site
explains the founder of the company.
Gaétan St-Jean is the president and founder of EBM Laser. He will have to transfer part of his activities to Lévis to meet the needs of Chantier Davie.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc
Gaétan St-Jean has already started training employees on the even more advanced robotization of his company to meet the needs of Chantier Davie, but he will also have to settle in Lévis.
EBM Laser wants to build ship monohulls. Huge pieces 70 feet long and 15 feet high impossible to transport on the road network and even less on bridges.
Everything is developing, explains Gaétan St-Jean when talking regarding the future site of his company on the South Shore. It might be in Lévis, it might be on the construction site, it might be near the construction site. This is a start of discussion.
The challenge is immense for his company. It has 100 employees currently spread over three small factories. Within five years, Gaétan St-Jean will have to find at least 75 welders to supply the orders for Chantier Davie.
Companies in the maritime sector are currently organizing to make representations to governments in order to make training centres, CEGEPs and universities aware of the training of this workforce.
The huge assembly hangar will allow the ships to be built inside. This is one of the most important criteria for obtaining contracts from the federal government.
Photo: Davie Shipyard
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