By Bryan Jessop/The Southpoint Sun
Special to The Voice
A few short weeks after being snubbed for a local ferry-building project, a Wheatley-based company earned the chance to tell the provincial government to take a ‘Hike.’
Chatham-Kent-Essex MP Dave Van Kesteren announced Thursday that Hike Metal Products of Wheatley is being awarded a $43-million contract to build six Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue (SAR) lifeboats. The state-of-the-art vessels will measure about 60 feet in length and will be utilized in the nation’s Maritime region following completion.
The contract also provides the option of building as many as four more of the same boats following its initial phase.
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The announcement was made as part of the federal government’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy and will add an estimated 25 jobs to Hike Metal’s employee base, which currently sits at about 20. Additional jobs will be generated through sub-contracting positions necessary to create the vessels.
Less than a month earlier, the Ontario government awarded a $40-million contract to replace the nearby and aging Pelee Islander to a shipbuilder in Chile. Hike Metal’s bid to build the new ferry — expected to arrive in Leamington in 2018 — was dismissed by the Wynne government in the preliminary stage of the bidding process.
Hike CEO and president Andy Stanton explained that the Coast Guard lifeboats the Wheatley company is about to build are far more complex in design than a car-carrying ferry. He also debunked explanations that waters in the Wheatley Harbour area are too shallow to launch a new Pelee Island ferry. Stanton noted that the original plans submitted to the Ontario government by Hike called for the ship to be built in separate sections. Those segments would then have been sent to LaSalle, where they were to be pieced together before the completed ferry would have been launched from that community.
The federal project will take place through multiple phases, beginning with a design check of the architecture provided by the Vancouver, B.C. company Robert Allan Ltd. Afterwards, construction will likely begin early in 2016.
The first six SAR boats will take between four and four-and-a-half years to build and could bring Hike’s workforce up to as many as 50 employees, responsible for duties that include welding, joining and pipefitting. If four more of the vessels were ordered, the project would extend to a total duration of about seven years.
“This is a long, tedious and comprehensive proposal,” noted Stanton, who explained he has been in contact with Van Kesteren regarding the contract for months.
Hike Metal began formulating a Request For Proposal (RFP) in December of last year, with the federal government’s evaluation process starting shortly thereafter.
“Contrary to the dilemma over the Pelee Island ferry, this is not a consolation prize,” Stanton explained. “These are very sophisticated life-saving boats. They’re compact, there’s a lot of systems in them. The Pelee Island ferry is a total contrast from something like this — as I’ve described it, it’s a big, floating boxcar.”
Stanton said that Hike Metal would likely discontinue pursuit of all actions in response to the Wynne government’s decision to award the ferry contract outside of Canada. As the Wheatley group was not considered beyond the pre-qualification process, he described reasoning for the denial as unclear and evasive.
“I feel they talked in riddles quite a bit,” Stanton said regarding a meeting with Ontario government representatives. “They seemed to go very quiet when they got cornered on questions.”
Van Kesteren explained that as part of policy regarding his government’s National Shipbuilding Strategy, builders outside of Canada were not considered for the six-to-10 boat contract. He also noted that Hike Metal was not chosen as a means of offsetting the impact from being denied the Pelee Island ferry project.
“The only advantage they had is that they do great work and they came in with the best offer,” Van Kesteren stated. “This place right here is a source of pride for myself as a Member of Parliament. He’s (Stanton) being very modest — the ships that I’ve seen him and this organization build are absolutely world class.”
Hike Metal was also recently selected for a contract to build a tugboat for the Toronto Port Authority, a decision that was announced last week. Stanton noted that Hike will soon be calling back workers currently on layoff and is now accepting job applications from throughout the region for workers with the appropriate skills and experience.
Hike Metal Products employees have typically hailed from nearby communities including Wheatley, Leamington, Tilbury, Kingsville, Windsor, Blenheim and Chatham.
