The troubled BC Ferries, operating in the less windy and more affluent conditions of British Columbia has an appalling record of unreliability, high prices and elderly vessels, set against record dividends for shareholders. Scotland’s islanders really need to do a bit of reading on them.

Late in the day, the owners have put out a global competitive call for builders of 7 new vessels.

B.C. shipbuilding giant Seaspan along with unions and suppliers have launched a new campaign dubbed Build Ferries BC that aims to have those vessels built in Canada.

Their call is backed up by new research. The findings are well worth considering in a Scottish context.

The findings will be no surprise to readers. Sometimes, we wonder whether research is actually needed when the findings could have been confidently guessed but it’s always useful when you need to persuade doubters, such as Councillor Bernard Buckinghamshire of South Uist, to have something not local, by Jocks, for them to read.

From Global News today:

Hargreaves [Seaspan Shipbuilders] conceded that building new ferries in British Columbia will cost more than if the job is done overseas. Skilled trades workers are paid more in B.C. than they are in Poland, Romania and parts of Asia where the B.C. industry’s primary competitors are located. Hargreaves argues the trade-off is worth it.

“Do you flow $2 billion to $3 billion overseas with no benefits, or do you keep that money here and reap a whole bunch of benefits in terms of high-quality jobs, in terms of the supply chain, in terms of what’s built up in competitive capability?” he asked. “There are tremendous benefits, economic benefits, innovation benefits, expertise benefits.”

He added that building the vessels in B.C. would mean the province has domestic expertise to help with repairs and refits through the life of the vessels.

It’s a position supported by organized labour. Phil Vernoit, chair of the IBEW local 230 electrical workers union, said the higher cost of building at home doesn’t factor workers’ income taxes.

“We’ve never considered the taxation that the government would receive back in consideration of the labour being performed in British Columbia, he said. “(By building overseas,) We could actually be going for the more expensive version of that vessel.”

He said the union had conducted its own economic study that found shipbuilding jobs are well enough paid to support two spinoff jobs outside the industry.

“The workers made enough money they would support the barbershop, the Starbucks barista, the White Spot because they would take their families out for dinner,” he said.

_{https://globalnews.ca/news/10563112/bc-ferries-vessel-replacement-seaspan/}