As a maritime nation with the longest coastline in the world and being surrounded by water on three sides, Canada requires relevant vessels to manage both domestic and international obligations. These ships play a vital role in protecting our sovereignty, in search and rescue missions, surveillance, seaborne transportation and logistics needs.

Currently, Canada is working to equip the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard through the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), so they can perform their duties, but what would the future of shipbuilding look like?

The future of shipbuilding is one that consists of innovation, building hubs that will support the advancement of maritime technologies, improvement in fusion welding, and digital twin of ship management. However, to get to that future, we need to learn from past and current experiences. These are all topics that will be addressed at this year’s Ship Tech Forum.

Vanguard is hosting its sixth annual Ship Tech Forum at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa on March 5th. The goal of this one-day conference is to facilitate a dialogue among industry, government and military and to share lessons learned from a ship tech perspective.

This year’s forum will feature keynote addresses from Patrick T. Finn, Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel), DND and RAdm Casper P. Donovan, Director General Future Ship Capability, RCN. It will also highlight lessons from the NSS that representatives from Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and Seaspan Shipyards will share with the attendees.

“Canada is in the position of having all the pieces in place to build a strong foundation through the NSS to become a competitive player within the global marine industries,” said Terri Pavelic, editor-in-chief, Vanguard. “However, we need to add to that foundation by preparing for the future of shipbuilding now. That is what we are hoping to set the stage for at this year’s Ship Tech Forum.”

To learn more or to register to attend, go here.

(Image: Irving Shipbuilding Inc.)