Davie Shipbuilding - History

History

The Davie shipyard in Lauzon has a complex ownership history.

The Davie shipyard was founded in 1825 by Allison Davie (May 4, 1796-June 1836), an English ship captain, however the construction record only dates to 1897. The company was established on the south shore of the St Lawrence River across from Quebec City in the community of Lauzon, Quebec (now part of the city of Levis, Quebec). Davie's father in-law, George Taylor, had begun a shipbuilding business in 1811 and Davie apparently purchased those assets as well. Following Allison Davie's death, the company was headed by his wife Elizabeth Davie until 1850, when his son George Taylor Davie (d. 1870) as George T. Davie & Sons. It changed its name in 1914 to Davie Shipbuilding & Repairing. The Davie family sold the shipyard to Canada Steamship Lines in 1929, however, they also started another "George T. Davie shipyard" immediately next door to the larger Lauzon facility.

The company has built a wide range of vessels in the 1800s and first half of the 20th century, ranging from wooden sailing vessels and steamers to modern steel ships. During World War II, Davie built 35 warships (mine sweepers, corvettes and destroyers).

By the 1970s, Canada Steamship Lines was owned by Power Corporation and in a 1976 restructuring, it sold the Davie yard to Societé de Construction Navale (Soconav) which was established by former employees of Marine Industries Ltd with financial backing of the Quebec provincial government's Societé Générale de Financement. In 1981 the Davie shipyard was sold to Dome Petroleum and in 1985 it was sold to Versatile Corporation which changed the name of the shipyard to Versatile Davie Incorporated.

In the 1970s to 1980s the Davie yard built oil rigs and some warships however after CSL ended its ownership the company began to fail. By the 1980s, the company was in financial trouble and was bailed out by both the provincial and federal governments. In 1986 the federal government asked Quebec to rationalize its shipyards, which saw Marine Industries Ltd (MIL) merge with Versatile Davie Inc to become MIL-Davie Shipbuilding. Under this new arrangement, MIL's shipyard in Sorel, Quebec was called M.I.L. Tracy (for Tracy, Quebec, a neighbourhood of Sorel) and the former Davie yard in Lauzon was called M.I.L. Lauzon. Shortly after the merger, the new company, MIL Davie Shipbuilding closed the Sorel shipyard along with the Versatile Vickers shipyard in Montreal, resulting in a total loss of 1,700 jobs but kept the Lauzon yard open as it was working on building two large vessels for Marine Atlantic as well as three warships for the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project.

After the warship project was finished in the early 1990s, MIL-Davie Shipbuilding, along with the Davie yard in Lauzon went into receivership. After being bought by the Quebec government, Davie was sold to Dominion Bridge Company for $1. In 1998, the parent Dominion Bridge Company went into bankruptcy and the Davie shipyard went into trusteeship in 1998. It was sold again in 2000 and became Industries Davie, Ltd. In 2006, the shipyard was sold to TECO Maritime ASA of Norway and was restructured into a new company called Davie Yards Incorporated.

In early 2011, TECO announced that Davie Yards Inc was in receivership and announced a bid by Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani of Italy and Fincantieri subsidiary DRS Technologies Canada to purchase the shipyard from TECO. This deal fell through in July 2011.

After the Fincantieri deal fell through, the yard underwent financial restructuring in July 2011 in order to qualify to bid for a portion of the $40 billion contract known as the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy which will see ships built for the Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Forces and Department of Fisheries and Oceans. This procurement strategy had its bidding deadline extended by 3 weeks specifically to accommodate the Davie restructuring.

Part of the restructuring of Davie involved changing ownership to a partnership between Seaway Marine & Industrial Inc. (owner of the Port Weller Dry Dock) through its subsidiary 7731299 Canada Inc, Canadian engineering conglomerate SNC-Lavalin and South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). Final details of the restructuring have not been revealed.