LIVERPOOL - It looks like Liverpool may be
the centre of a new shipbreaking industry. R.J. MacIsaac Ltd. has just been
awarded a tender worth almost $11 million to tow and scrap the retired naval
vessel Iroquois at Port Mersey Commercial Park.
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The Iroquois, a former Canadian warship, will
be joining its sister ship The Algonquin in Liverpool. R.J. MacIsaac has been
awarded the tender – worth almost $11 million - to scrap the ship.
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The company is already in the process of
recycling two other former naval vessels – the Algonquin and the Protecteur.
That contract, awarded last November, is worth $39 million.
Queens
Region Mayor Christopher Clarke says the news of a third contract buoys the
hope that Liverpool will become a ship recycling centre.
“What might have been just a two year
employment opportunity, it looks as now its going to turn into an industry down
at Port Mersey,” he says.
“It’s excellent news. I know the last time
that Mr. MacIsaac was here and I was chatting to him, he was talking to me in
terms of ten year plans and 20 year plans. Well this seems to give some
substance to that line of thinking that yes, there’s going to be an opportunity
to have the ship recycling as an industry on our shore.”
The
Iroquois is the sister ship to the Algonquin.
It was decommissioned in 2015 after 43 years
of service. It was considered Canada’s flagship destroyer when it was built and
took to the seas.
According to the tender document released by
Public Works Canada, the contract was awarded to R.J. MacIsaac today. The
contract stipulates that the ship must be completely recycled within 18 months.
The Protecteur arrived in Liverpool in April,
after a two-month tow through the Panama Canal The Algonquin arrived in early
June.
R.J. MacIsaac is in the process of
dismantling Protecteur while the Algonquin waits, tied up at the dock at Port
Mersey.
There are no details at this time on when the
Iriquois may be heading to Liverpool, but Mayor Clarke says today’s award is
extremely good news for Queens.
“I know there a lots more vessels in Canada.
I know there are something like six to 800 vessels waiting to be recycled,”
says Clarke.
Source: the
advance. 12 October 2016
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