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Photo by Andrew Vaughan/CP

Another $150 million will be required to extend the production schedule at Irving, said Pat Finn, the assistant deputy minister for matériel at the Department of National Defence. Another $250 million will be set aside to deal with fluctuating labour rates, increased project costs and any increases in foreign exchange rates or other costs. “By adding a sixth ship and stretching (the building) out, we’ve added two years of work,” Finn said Under the previous timetable the fifth AOPS would have been delivered by the end of 2022. Under the new schedule the fifth ship will now by delivered by the middle of 2023 and the sixth ship in the winter of 2024, Finn said. The first AOPS is now in the water and is expected to be officially delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy in summer 2019. The project was originally to build five AOPS and only proceed with a sixth if Irving could find savings and work within the existing budget. That didn’t happen.

Photo by Irving Shipbuilding Inc. Handout via CP

But Finn said maintaining a steady flow of work at the Irving yard will save money over the long-run as skilled labour will be in place to begin construction of the Canadian Surface Combatants in the early 2020s. The alternative is to lay staff off, then hire at a later date. “You let everyone go, then you hire them back but they’re not the same people so you’re starting over,” Finn said. “That’s why we’re prepared (to spend) extra to stretch out the work.” Finn said even though the construction of some of the AOPS is being stretched out, there is still the possibility of some form of downturn between the end of that program and the start of the surface combatant project. He said that Irving is trying to find additional international customers for the Arctic and offshore patrol ships, which if successful could help maintain employment at the yard. Government officials are also looking at the possibility of starting some portions of the surface combatant project earlier than planned, Finn said. Irving and its employees had wanted the federal government to finance the building of two more AOPs.