Seaspan, as it is known today, is the product of a series of acquisitions and mergers in the coastal marine transportation and shipbuilding/ship repair business. Seaspan was created in 1970 by the merger of two prominent coastal towing firms: Vancouver Tug Boat Company (formed in 1898 by Harry A Jones) and Island Tug & Barge (formed in 1924 by Harold Elworthy). In addition to being the largest tug and barge operation on the lower coast, Vancouver Tug also owned Vancouver Shipyards. In 1968 In 1913 he formed C H Cates Towing, then joined with his three sons, all master mariners, to incorporate the company as CH Cates and Sons Limited in 1921. Vancouver Shipyard was founded in 1902 at the foot of Denman Street in Vancouver's
Coal Harbour. Primarily a builder of small fishing and pleasure boats, the company built two minesweepers for the
Royal Canadian Navy during the
Second World War. It was acquired by Vancouver Tug in 1954. In 1968
Chronological history of Seaspan ( • 1986 - Imasco Ltd. acquires Genstar and gains controlling interest in Seaspan, then sells Seaspan to McLuan Capital Group later that year. • 1992 - Dennis Washington makes his first investment in British Columbia's marine industry by purchasing C. H. Cates & Sons Towing and its subsidiary Seaforth Towing. This is when Washington Marine Group was first formed. • 1995 - Washington acquires Norsk Towing from Fletcher Challenge. • 1996 - Washington purchases Seaspan. • 1997 - Washington purchases Kingcome Navigation from
MacMillan Bloedel. Kingcome's roots go back to 1912 when it was formed to tow logs from logging camps to the paper mill in
Powell River, British Columbia. • 1998 - Washington purchases the rail and truck ferry service of
Coastal Marine Operations from the
Canadian Pacific Railway; it becomes a subsidiary of Seaspan and is renamed Seaspan Coastal Intermodal. • 1999 - Seaspan, Cates, Seaforth, Norsk and Kingcome are all amalgamated into Seaspan International. Dennis Washington sets up Washington Marine Group with separate divisions for towing, shipbuilding and ship repair, coastal intermodal, and bunkering services. • 2010 - Vancouver Shipyards is shortlisted for the Federal Government's
National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). The program, worth CAD$35 billion, is planned to build replacement ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard over a 30-year period. Two Canadian shipyards will be selected, one to build combat vessels, the other non-combat vessels. • 2011 - In a corporate restructuring, Washington Marine Group is renamed Seaspan Marine Corporation; the shipbuilding, coastal ferries and bunkering services become subsidiaries of the towing division. • 2011 - As the winning bidder of the $8 billion non-combat package of a $35 billion federal shipbuilding contract on 19 October 2011, Seaspan Marine will build seven and possibly eight vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and Department of National Defence. These will include scientific research vessels, fisheries vessels, polar icebreaker , and two
support vessels for the
Royal Canadian Navy. • 2012 – Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards commences the $170 million Shipyard Modernization Project in preparation for federal shipbuilding contracts under the NSS program. • 2014 – Canada's largest permanent
gantry crane arrives at Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards. The crane weighs in at 300 tonnes, stands high and spans . • 2018 Victoria Shipyards along with Davie and Halifax Shipyards share a $7 billion contract to maintain and repair the s and will be responsible for the five frigates based at
CFB Esquimalt. ==References==