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May 16, 1997
(Industry, Trade and Technology)

The following are speaking notes delivered today at a news conference in St. John's by Charles J. Furey, Minister of Industry, Trade and Technology:

I have with me this morning Judy Foote, Minister of Development and Rural Renewal and MHA for Grand Bank.

Approximately one year ago, a news conference was held to make an announcement concerning the future of the Marystown Shipyard. At that time, we indicated that we would continue to support the shipyard if commitments were made by the union and management to change work practices at the yard. At that time, Local 20 and Local 904 agreed to changes focused on productivity improvement and the formation of a working committee.

Significant changes are under way that point to a bright future for MSL. Since that news conference one year ago, MSL has been successful in obtaining an $8 million contract with AMFELS of Brownsville, Texas. These people were impressed with the quality of work carried out at Marystown. In fact, the contract was extended for another $4 million. In total, there are 100 person years of work associated with the AMFELS contract. This work is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The engineering phase for an $11.5 million contract with HAM Marine of Pascagoula, Mississippi, has begun. Materials are being secured for this project and fabrication will begin next week. This will result in 75 person years of work. The Marystown team tells me that they are optimistic of obtaining additional work from HAM Marine.

The yard is also carrying out refurbishment work on the federal vessel the "Quest". The contract is valued in the order of $45 million and will entail approximately 160 person years of work at the shipyard. Work on this vessel is expected to begin in mid-June.

There are smaller but significant activities ongoing at the yard.

The business plan for MSL projected $2 million worth of repair work for 1997-98. The level of repair activity at the yard for the first quarter of this year is currently projected to exceed that amount and could reach $4 million. This work includes repair and refit work to ferries, fishing trawlers, tugboats and supply vessels.

There is an agreement with AOC Brown and Root for onshore fabrication work associated with the Hibernia operational phase which could see an average of $1 million of work done at the yard annually for the production life of the project (25 years). This work involves the fabrication of duplex flow lines plus structural welding work.

So indeed the signs are there that a real change has taken place since that news conference one year ago.

Today, I am pleased to announce that Marystown Shipyard Limited is concluding final negotiations with Newfoundland Transshipment Terminal for the construction of two fire-fighting/escort docking tugs.

When these negotiations are concluded next week, the contract will mean 160,000 manhours for the yard. The work will peak at 150 tradespeople from various disciplines. Among other uses, the tugs will be primarily used to escort the tankers into the transshipment port.

As we sit here today, the workforce at Marystown Shipyard Limited is at 545 people. It is expected to reach 600 very shortly. We are pleased with the efforts of management and the union to date and we look forward to capturing more work, perhaps some of the opportunities related to our abundant natural resources and oil and gas industry, and in particular, work associated with the Terra Nova project and Voisey's Bay.