Davie Shipbuilding

The Davie shipyard in Lauzon, Quebec has a complex ownership history.

19th century

The Davie firm was founded in 1825 by English-born ship captain Allison Davie (May 4, 1796 – June 1836) and English born shipbuilder George Taylor (1782-1861); the Davie construction record, however, only dates to 1897. The Davie company was established in the 1830s on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River across from Quebec City in the community of Lauzon, Quebec (now part of the city of Levis, Quebec). Davie's father-in-law, George Taylor, had begun a shipbuilding business in 1811 after his arrival from England on the southwest shores of Île d’Orléans at Trou St. Patrice (closed briefly 1812 due to the War of 1812 to build ships in Upper Canada and permanently after 1827^[1]), became partners in 1825 and built their shipyard at rue de Saint Thomas and Cote de la Canotiere around 1827^[2] and moved to north side of St Lawrence in 1832) and Davie apparently purchased those assets as well.^[3] Following Allison Davie's death, the company was headed by his wife Elizabeth Davie until 1850, when it became "George T. Davie & Sons" under Davie's son George Taylor Davie (1828–1907).^[3]

It changed its name in 1914 to "Davie Shipbuilding & Repairing." The Davie family sold the shipyard to Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) in 1929 but started the "George T. Davie shipyard" immediately next door to the larger Lauzon facility. The second shipyard was managed by sons Allison Cufaude Davie and George Duncan Davie, with the former taking full control following the death of the latter in 1937.^[4]

Davie's Brothers Limited remained in family ownership until 1951 and was owned by Logistec Corporation (1971) and finally, Équimer (1987) before the yard closed for good in 1989.^[4]

20th century

The company built a wide range of vessels in the 1800s and the first half of the 20th century, ranging from wooden sailing vessels and steamers to modern steel ships, both cargo and passenger carriers. During World War II, Davie built 35 warships (minesweepers, corvettes and destroyers).

On October 27, 1955, the Davie yard was almost destroyed by a massive fire which started in the foundry. It lasted eight hours, and although no one was injured many employees were left unemployed for several months.

By the 1970s, Canada Steamship Lines was owned by Power Corporation and in a 1976 restructuring, it sold the Davie yard to Societé de Construction Navale (Soconav) which was established by former employees of Marine Industries Ltd with the financial backing of the Quebec provincial government's Societé Générale de Financement. In 1981 the Davie shipyard was sold to Dome Petroleum and in 1985 it was sold to Versatile Corporation which changed the name of the shipyard to "Versatile Davie Incorporated".

In the 1970s to 1980s the Davie yard built oil rigs and some warships. However, after CSL ended its ownership the company began to fail. By the 1980s, the company was in financial trouble and was bailed out by both the provincial and federal governments. In 1986 the federal government asked Quebec to rationalize its shipyards. Marine Industries Ltd (MIL) merged with Versatile Davie Inc to become MIL-Davie Shipbuilding. Under this new arrangement, MIL's shipyard in Sorel, Quebec was called "M.I.L. Tracy" (for Tracy, Quebec, a neighborhood of Sorel) and the former Davie yard in Lauzon was called "M.I.L. Lauzon." Shortly after the merger, the new company, MIL-Davie Shipbuilding closed the Sorel shipyard along with the Versatile Vickers shipyard in Montreal, resulting in a total loss of 1,700 jobs but kept the Lauzon yard open as it was working on building two large vessels for Marine Atlantic and three warships for the Royal Canadian Navy's Canadian Patrol Frigate Project.

After the warship project was finished in the early 1990s, MIL-Davie Shipbuilding, along with the Davie yard in Lauzon went into receivership. After being bought by the Quebec government, Davie was sold to Dominion Bridge Company for $1. In 1998, the parent Dominion Bridge Company went into bankruptcy and the Davie shipyard went into trusteeship in 1998. It was sold again in 2000 and became "Industries Davie, Ltd". During this period, the company undertook a number of projects involving vessels and rigs which serve the offshore oil and gas market. These included the upgrade of a semi-submersible platform for Petrobras and the conversion of a vessel for pipe laying.

21st century

In 2006, the shipyard was almost auctioned in June,^[5] before it was sold to TECO Maritime ASA of Norway and was restructured into a new company called Davie Yards Incorporated. In February 2010 TECO received protection from its creditors.^[6] It employed at the time, 1,000 people. Investissement Québec held CAD$28 million in share capital, so Davie can be considered partly an SOE.^[6]

In early 2011, TECO announced that Davie Yards Inc announced a bid by Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani of Italy^[6] and Fincantieri subsidiary DRS Technologies Canada to purchase the shipyard from TECO. This deal fell through in July 2011. After the Fincantieri deal fell through, the yard underwent financial restructuring in July 2011 in order to qualify to bid for a portion of the first stages of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) which will see ships built for the Canadian Coast Guard, Royal Canadian Navy and Department of Fisheries and Oceans,^[7] for a total value of CAD$33 billion^[8] or $35 billion.^[6] The NSPS had its bidding deadline extended by three weeks specifically to accommodate the Davie restructuring.^[6]

As part of the restructuring, on 21 July 2011 Upper Lakes Groups Inc. (owner of Seaway Marine & Industrial Inc. in St. Catharines) bought the assets of the bankrupt Davie Yards Inc.^[6] The Canadian engineering conglomerate SNC-Lavalin, Upper Lakes Groups Inc. and South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) had formalized the week before a joint venture to bid for the contract.^[6] The new company bore the name Chantier Davie Canada Inc.

Davie was not selected for the first contracts in the NSPS program, which went instead to Vancouver Shipyards, a subsidiary of Seaspan, and Halifax Shipyards, a unit of the Irving Group of Companies.^[9] Vancouver Shipyards obtained an $8 billion contract to supply the Coast Guard, while Halifax Shipyards obtained a contract valued at $25 billion to supply the Navy.^[9] Each ship is worth $1 billion.^[9] The Davie bid was only for the Coast Guard contract.^[9] Davie had only 15 employees during this time.^[9] Provincial politicians had no power over the bidding process due to the federal nature of the contracts.^[9] DSME canceled its involvement in the joint venture at this loss. SNC-Lavalin withdrew from the joint venture in May 2012,^[8] under a cloud of controversy, as its CEO had resigned in March 2012.

Upper Lakes, which was at the time the only owner of the yard, sold it in November 2012 to Inocea of the UK.

Inocea ownership

Davie launched MV Cecon Pride in October 2013; it was the first ship launched from the yard in over a decade. Davie CEO Alan Bowen said "This is a great day for Davie. There are only a handful of shipyards across the globe, mainly in Europe, capable of building a vessel to this specification and with this level of technology." It was the 717th ship built at the yard. The 130-metre (427 ft) vessel was scheduled for final delivery to Cecon ASA in February 2014. "It's used for multi-purpose applications. From pipe laying to subsea construction to deep sea well intervention, it's really about the deep sea," said Alex Vicefield, chairman of the shipyard.^[10] Export Development Canada forgave a loan to Cecon ASA^[11] of approximately $216 million during the Zafiro-Cecon sale process,^[12] which had tied up for many years three partly finished keels: the above-mentioned Cecon Pride, Sovereign and Excellence.^[10]

In 2014, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Diane Finley turned down Davie's bid to build Canada's next icebreaker, saying that the $500 million that the firm's fixed price offer would save the taxpayer over the Seaspan bid was rejected "based on the credibility, the viability, the reliability of the companies".^[13]

In 2018, Davie delivered m/v Asterix, a combat support ship, for Federal Fleet Services Inc. (a sister company of Davie) who then leased the vessel to the Royal Canadian Navy.

In 2018 Davie, along with Victoria Shipyards and Halifax Shipyards, agreed to share a $7 billion contract to maintain and repair the Halifax-class frigates, and will share with Halifax six ships based on the east coast.^[14] This was later clarified as a $500 million contract for the maintenance of three east coast frigates. ^[15]

In 2020, Davie was selected to become a partner in the National Shipbuilding Strategy, tasked with the construction of a new fleet of polar icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard.

Discover more about History related topics

Lauzon, Quebec

Lauzon, Quebec

Lauzon is a former city in southern Quebec, Canada, located on the St. Lawrence River northeast of Lévis. Founded in 1867 as a village it became a town in 1910, Lauzon had a population of about 14,500 when it merged with Lévis in 1989. The then-amalgamated city had the name of Lévis-Lauzon for about one year in 1991, before merging again and changing its name for good to Lévis.

St. Lawrence River

St. Lawrence River

The St. Lawrence River is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a roughly northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting the North American Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean, and forming the primary drainage outflow of the Great Lakes Basin. The river traverses the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as well as the U.S. state of New York, and demarcates part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States. It also provides the foundation for the commercial St. Lawrence Seaway.

Quebec City

Quebec City

Quebec City, officially Québec, is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is the eleventh-largest city and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Canada. It is also the second-largest city in the province after Montreal. It has a humid continental climate with warm summers coupled with cold and snowy winters.

Canada Steamship Lines

Canada Steamship Lines

Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) is a shipping company with headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The business has been operating for well over a century and a half.

MIL-Davie Shipbuilding

MIL-Davie Shipbuilding

MIL-Davie Shipbuilding is a historic Canadian shipbuilding company that was located in both Sorel, Quebec (MIL) and Lauzon, Quebec (Davie).

Minesweeper

Minesweeper

A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.

Corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop-of-war.

Destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

Power Corporation of Canada

Power Corporation of Canada

Power Corporation of Canada is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a portfolio of alternative investment platforms.

Marine Industries

Marine Industries

Marine Industries Limited (MIL) was a Canadian ship building, hydro-electric and rail car manufacturing company, in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, with a shipyard located on the Richelieu river about 1 km from the St. Lawrence River. It employed up to 8,500 people during the World War II support effort.

Dome Petroleum

Dome Petroleum

Dome Petroleum Limited was a Calgary-based oil and gas company. Founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of the Toronto company Dome Mines Limited, Dome was built by Jack Gallagher, who remained with the company until 1983. In 1988 Dome was purchased by Amoco.

Canadian Vickers

Canadian Vickers

Canadian Vickers Limited was an aircraft and shipbuilding company that operated in Canada during the early part of the 20th century until 1944. A subsidiary of Vickers Limited, it built its own aircraft designs as well as others under licence. Canadair absorbed the Canadian Vickers aircraft operations in November 1944.

This is a list of ships built by Davie Shipbuilding (1825–1986). For ships built after 1986, see MIL-Davie Shipbuilding or Davie Yards Incorporated.

Warships

• Restigouche-class destroyer
  • HMCS Gatineau (DDE 236), 1953–1957
• Mackenzie-class destroyer
  • HMCS Qu'Appelle (DDE 264), 1960–1962
• Iroquois-class destroyer
  • HMCS Athabaskan (DDG 282), 1969–1970
  • HMCS Huron (DDG 281), 1969–1971
  • HMCS Algonquin (DDG 283), 1969–1971
• Bangor-class minesweeper, 1940–1942
  • HMCS Digby (J267)
  • HMCS Granby (J264)
  • HMCS Lachine (J266)
  • HMCS Melville (J263)
  • HMCS Noranda (J265)
  • HMCS Stratford (J310)
  • HMCS Trois Rivières (J269)
  • HMCS Truro (J268)
• Bay-class minesweeper, 1951–1953, 1955–1956
  • HMCS Chignecto (MCB 160)
  • HMCS Fundy (MCB 159)
  • HMCS Gaspé (MCB 143)
  • HMCS Trinity (MCB 157)
  • HMCS Ungava (MCB 148)
• Flower-class corvette, 1940
  • HMCS Baddeck (K147)
  • HMCS Brandon (K149)
  • HMCS Buctouche (K179)
  • HMCS Lévis (K115)
  • HMCS Rimouski (K121)
  • HMCS Shawinigan (K136)
  • HMCS Shediac (K110)
  • HMCS Snowberry (K166)
  • HMCS Spikenard (K198)
  • HMCS Windflower (K155)
• River-class frigate, 1943–1944
  • HMCS Buckingham (K685)
  • HMCS Carlplace (K664)
  • HMCS Charlottetown (K244)
  • HMCS Coaticook (K410)
  • HMCS Fort Erie (K670)
  • HMCS Hallowell (K666)
  • HMCS Inch Arran (K667)
  • HMCS Jonquiere (K318)
  • HMCS Lasalle (K519)
  • HMCS Lauzon (K371)
  • HMCS Penetang (K676)
  • HMCS Sea Cliff (K344)
  • HMCS Ste. Therese (K366)
  • HMCS Sussexvale (K683)
  • HMCS Toronto (K538)
  • HMCS Victoriaville (K684)
• Provider-class auxiliary vessel 1961–1962
  • HMCS Provider (AOR 508)

Coast Guard and other utility vessels

• CCGS D'Iberville, Seaway icebreaker
• CCGS Griffon, light icebreaker
• CCGS Sir Humphrey Gilbert, medium icebreaker – now as Polar Prince
• MV Cecon Pride, 2013

Ferries

• SS Canora, 1918 ^[16]
• SS Charlottetown, 1930
• MV Bluenose, 1956
• MV Frederick Carter, 1965

Sailing vessels

• Gananoque

Discover more about Ships built or converted related topics

MIL-Davie Shipbuilding

MIL-Davie Shipbuilding

MIL-Davie Shipbuilding is a historic Canadian shipbuilding company that was located in both Sorel, Quebec (MIL) and Lauzon, Quebec (Davie).

Davie Yards Incorporated

Davie Yards Incorporated

Davie Yards Incorporated was a ship building unit of TECO Group of Norway and is the successor to Davie Shipbuilding and MIL-Davie Shipbuilding from 2006 to 2011.

HMCS Gatineau (DDE 236)

HMCS Gatineau (DDE 236)

HMCS Gatineau was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces during the Cold War from 1959 to 1996. She was the third ship in her class and the second vessel to carry the designation HMCS Gatineau. She was sold for scrapping in 2009.

Mackenzie-class destroyer

Mackenzie-class destroyer

The Mackenzie-class destroyer was a class of warship used by the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces from the 1960s–1990s. Six such ships were envisioned, of which four were completed to this specification. The last two hulls were completed to the post DDH conversion St. Laurent-class design ; they were designated as the Annapolis class instead. The four Mackenzie-class destroyers spent most of their service in the Pacific Ocean, used primarily in a training role. Their only significant update was the DELEX program, which was completed between 1982 and 1985 and updated their navigational radar and their sonar.

HMCS Qu'Appelle (DDE 264)

HMCS Qu'Appelle (DDE 264)

HMCS Qu'Appelle was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces. The ship's insignia and logo was the head of a fox facing forward centered in a diagonal line double white with a red center sqiggley line from the top left to bottom right. The moniker of the ship was "Follow the Fox".

Iroquois-class destroyer

Iroquois-class destroyer

Iroquois-class destroyers, also known as Tribal class or DDG 280 class, were a class of four helicopter-carrying, guided missile destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy. The ships were named to honour the First Nations of Canada.

HMCS Athabaskan (DDG 282)

HMCS Athabaskan (DDG 282)

HMCS Athabaskan was an Iroquois-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1972 until 2017. Athabaskan was the third ship of her class which is sometimes referred to as the Tribal class or simply as the 280 class. She is the third vessel to use the designation HMCS Athabaskan.

HMCS Huron (DDG 281)

HMCS Huron (DDG 281)

HMCS Huron was an Iroquois-class destroyer that served with the Canadian Forces from 16 December 1972 to 23 October 2000. It served mainly on the western coast of Canada. After decommissioning, its hull was stripped to be used in a live-fire exercise. The ship's hulk was eventually sunk by gunfire from its twin ship, HMCS Algonquin. Huron was the second ship of its class and the second vessel to use the designation HMCS Huron.

HMCS Algonquin (DDG 283)

HMCS Algonquin (DDG 283)

HMCS Algonquin was an Iroquois-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) from 1973 to 2015.

Bangor-class minesweeper

Bangor-class minesweeper

The Bangor-class minesweepers were a class of warships operated by the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), and Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during the Second World War.

HMCS Granby (J264)

HMCS Granby (J264)

HMCS Granby was a Bangor-class minesweeper that served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She saw action in the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of the St. Lawrence. After the war, she was transferred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, however never saw service with them. She was recommissioned as a deep-diving tender in 1953 and served as such until 1966. She was named for Granby, Quebec.

Bay-class minesweeper

Bay-class minesweeper

The Bay-class minesweepers, also known as the Gaspé-class minesweepers, were a class of minesweepers operated by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Canadian Forces (CF) during the Cold War. Their design was similar to the British Ton-class minesweepers.

• MV Cecon Pride (offshore construction vessel) 2013
• AOR conversion of MS Asterix for Royal Canadian Navy with delivery expected in 2017^[17]
• STQ Dual LNG-MDO ferry for the Société des traversiers du Québec, with delivery expected in 2018^[18]

The shipyard in Lauzon, Quebec was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990.^[19]