Feature stories: Ideal Welders—Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy in 2021
At Ideal Welders, which is situated on the Fraser River in Delta, British Columbia, roughly 180 employees work on a variety of projects, including those in support of the Royal Canadian Navy’s joint support ship (JSS).
Ideal Welders has been fabricating pressure and power piping for over 50 years. After delivering the first bulbous bow in 2020, Ideal Welders commenced early work on the bulbous bow for the second JSS in 2021. The purpose of the bulbous bow is to increase efficiency as the ship moves through the water. It does so by dispersing water around the hull in a more even distribution, reducing surface friction and drag.
1 of the goals of the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) is to revitalize the marine industry in Canada. Through the work carried out by companies like Ideal Welders for Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards, 1 of Canada’s 2 strategic shipyard partners under the NSS, this goal is being realized.
We spoke with Josh Taylor, a project manager at the company, about their work under the Strategy and how the company ventured into the marine world with Seaspan.
“We have a team here that works directly on Seaspan’s account,” Josh said. “And we’re coming to work every day because the NSS exists.” The NSS program has helped contribute to an engaging and stable work environment at Ideal. At any given time, 10 to 20% of their workforce is actively working on NSS-related projects.
Ideal Welders was brought into the shipbuilding world through Seaspan in 2014 with the offshore fisheries science vessels program.
“We were fortunate to be tasked with learning the particular demands and nuances of the marine industry at an early stage of the NSS as a strategic supplier to Seaspan,” Josh said.
As a result, Ideal Welders has evolved with Seaspan and through that introduced new procedures, templates, and workflows to enhance efficiencies and produce demanding deliverables. It was also through Seaspan that Ideal Welders became involved in the bulbous bow construction.
“That was a really neat program here,” Josh said.
Ideal had to adopt a different build strategy than they were used to. The build started inverted, before being flipped, craned through their roughly 500-foot fabrication bay, and placed into a cradle. Once it was placed in the cradle, they built the rest of the bow from there.
By the time Ideal Welders was done, the roughly 190,000-pound bow was tall enough to be in line with the ceiling rafters within the fabrication bay. It was in the cradle that the bulbous bow was transported to Seaspan. The actual fabrication drew on activities that Ideal Welders carries out every single day. They fabricate, weld, perform non-destructive testing, and apply surface treatment coatings.
“The NSS and our relationship with Seaspan has definitely been an asset during COVID,” Josh said. “We were able to keep people working because of the NSS.”
The bulbous bow for the second joint support ship is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. The coming together of projects like the bulbous bow, where the progress the team makes is visible, is part of the reason Josh enjoys what he does.
“The thing that excites me the most about coming to work every day is there is a tangible aspect to what we do, where you can actually see it and feel it,” Josh said. “You get to see it come together over a long period of time, and there’s that inherent pride that’s associated.”
The JSS 1 bulbous bow outside the fabrication bay at Ideal Welders.
Bulbous bow preparing for departure from Ideal Welders.
Bulbous bow in the cradle at Ideal Welders.