Amid concerns about delays and the looming threat of a capability gap for Canada’s Coast Guard, the Trudeau government is looking at buying interim tow vessels and icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard.

According to a Request for Information posted Thursday morning on the government’s Buy and Sell website, officials at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans want more information from industry about what it might cost to buy what they call “bridge” ships to fill capability gaps that could open up before the contracted ships are delivered.

“Due to age and reduced availability of the icebreaking fleet, the [Canadian Coast Guard] anticipates that it may require additional icebreaking capacity provided by one to five icebreakers (heavy, medium or light) at various times over the next number of years,” the notice states. “Accordingly, the [Canadian Coast Guard] must investigate potential bridging strategies to address potential gaps in service.”

As well, the notice cites “limited industry capacity” in the section outlining the gaps in Canada’s emergency towing capabilities in the immediate and medium term, and goes on to say the government may need one to three tow ships for the Coast Guard to operate in both the Pacific and Atlantic regions over the short to medium term.

An industry day will be held December 8 in Gatineau, Quebec, and interested firms will have 55 days from November 17 to provide their input and attend one-on-one meetings with government officials.

Seaspan is working on the non-combat portion of the National Shipbuilding Strategy — including a Polar class icebreaker, new supply ships and research vessels for the Coast Guard — while Irving Shipyards in Halifax is handling the combat portion of the work.

The first of three Coast Guard research ships is expected to be delivered in April 2017, but there are questions among industry officials about whether the firm can hit that deadline.

iPolitics has reached out to the offices of Procurement Minister Judy Foote and Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc.