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“It is an almost identical design to the oil spill response and general multipurpose ships used by other coast guards, in particular Australia, the U.S. and China.”

The ship was ordered by a Norwegian firm, which has gone bankrupt.

Davie has also tried to interest Ottawa in a plan to convert another existing vessel into a coast guard icebreaker. Federal officials rejected the idea.

The government is worried such a purchase would jeopardize the national shipbuilding program, under which Seaspan in Vancouver builds an icebreaker and other government support ships, sources say.

But Davie argues buying existing or nearly completed ships, and converting them for Canadian use, would be cheaper and complement the vessels built by Seaspan.

Vicefield warns the window is closing on the multi-purpose vessel Davie is proposing since the Norwegian company’s creditors plan to tow it away in December if the federal government doesn’t act.

He believes that would be a loss

“I think people think you can respond to oil spills with a little tugboat,” he said. “You just have to look at the kind of ships all other coast guards have to understand why that is not the case.”

The company estimates the costs of buying and converting the ship at $350 million. As a multi-purpose vessel, it could be used for other missions besides oil spill response, including submarine rescue, disaster relief, science research and search and rescue.

Davie is already converting a commercial vessel, the MV Asterix, for use as a interim supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy. Its main role will be to refuel and resupply warships at sea.

The Canadian government decided to proceed with the conversion of the commercial container ship after the navy’s two supply vessels were decommissioned because of age and structural issues.

Under the national shipbuilding strategy, Seaspan is to build two supply ships for the Canadian navy. But those are not expected to be ready until 2020 or 2021.

dpugliese@postmedia.com | Twitter: davidpugliese