by Guest » February 23, 2014, 6:26 pm
I think what Brett is referencing is that American fleets are incentivized to rebuild thanks to the high cost of shipbuilding in this country and the Jones Act that mandates it take place here to protect what little infrastructure and skilled workers that are left in our shipbuilding industry.
With Canadian fleets on the other hand, despite places like Port Weller (Which even advertises on their site that they have the capability to build new lakers despite claims by Canadian fleets to the contrary when they were lobbying), have now gone off-shore for cheap new construction after a brief fling with major rebuildings and a long history of Canadian shipbuilding.
I think that there's little doubt that something like the Montrealais could keep sailing for years to come. In earlier years, if her capacity was needed, such a project would be viable such as repowering, renewing her ballast tanks, tank top renewal, or even a completely new midbody depending on what weaknesses were present and what she was needed for that dictated the scope of work.
Now, the economics dictate due to the lifting of the import tax to just buying fresh new Chinese construction and when 25-30 years have rolled buy, buy cheap new ones from shipyards in an oppressed land being paid a few cents to the dollar that Western workers could to replace vessels sailing our inland waterways.
That means we very well might have Canadian ships like the Assiniboine that are reaching something like 70 years of age at a time when these new builds are being scrapped after less than half that time.
That change is what he's lamenting and I think it's a valid one. I'd of much rather have seen Canadian subsidies like a few decades ago to make up the difference and have that activity taking place here.
I think what Brett is referencing is that American fleets are incentivized to rebuild thanks to the high cost of shipbuilding in this country and the Jones Act that mandates it take place here to protect what little infrastructure and skilled workers that are left in our shipbuilding industry.
With Canadian fleets on the other hand, despite places like Port Weller (Which even advertises on their site that they have the capability to build new lakers despite claims by Canadian fleets to the contrary when they were lobbying), have now gone off-shore for cheap new construction after a brief fling with major rebuildings and a long history of Canadian shipbuilding.
I think that there's little doubt that something like the Montrealais could keep sailing for years to come. In earlier years, if her capacity was needed, such a project would be viable such as repowering, renewing her ballast tanks, tank top renewal, or even a completely new midbody depending on what weaknesses were present and what she was needed for that dictated the scope of work.
Now, the economics dictate due to the lifting of the import tax to just buying fresh new Chinese construction and when 25-30 years have rolled buy, buy cheap new ones from shipyards in an oppressed land being paid a few cents to the dollar that Western workers could to replace vessels sailing our inland waterways.
That means we very well might have Canadian ships like the Assiniboine that are reaching something like 70 years of age at a time when these new builds are being scrapped after less than half that time.
That change is what he's lamenting and I think it's a valid one. I'd of much rather have seen Canadian subsidies like a few decades ago to make up the difference and have that activity taking place here.