An environmental assessment is underway for a proposed $250m to $300m expansion to the St. John’s Dockyard (SJD)-NewDock.
Newfoundland and Labrador Environment, Conservation and Climate Change Minister Chris Tibbs has ordered an environmental preview report (EPR) be prepared and has appointed an environmental assessment committee (EAC) as part of the process.
“The EPR is necessary to inform the significance of the potential effects of the Project on the surrounding environment,” said Minister Tibbs, who released the EPR guidelines on July 3.
The project was registered for an environmental assessment on March 5.
“The proposed project is to construct a new larger marine lift to replace the aging graving dock, while keeping the existing Syncrolift in place to compliment the new larger marine lift. The new larger marine lift will have a capacity of approximately 140m in length, 29m in width, 10m in draft and 28,000 tonne displacement, with vessel berths on land for two marine vessels. This proposed project is critical to Canada’s ongoing Arctic Sovereignty as well as the ever-increasing size of marine vessels,” reads the environmental assessment registration document.
With the ever-increasing size of marine vessels, St. John’s Dockyard Limited is unable to dock vessels wider than 21m and drafts greater than 7m within its existing facilities, said the company.
“These larger vessels come from the offshore oil and gas industry, general cargo ships, bulk carries, passenger carries and ferries. This has become a common occurrence in the last 15 to 20 years that the SJD is unable to dock certain vessels for repairs or maintenance in the Atlantic Canada region due to width and draft. In addition to these current larger marine vessels, tens of billions of dollars in new Federal marine vessels are planned for the Arctic as part of the ongoing National Shipbuilding Strategy and Arctic Sovereignty, which includes River Class Destroyers, Program Ice Breakers, Multi-Purpose/Polar Class Ice Breakers and Patrol Submarines. With this ongoing National Shipbuilding Strategy, other Canadian shipyards with this capacity will be fully tasked with the new build programs, leaving minimal capacity for repairs and maintenance. SJD envisions this as a source of future repair and maintenance contracts.”
The expansion plans include a new marine lift system that will accommodate drydocking of the new Polar Class Icebreakers with a length of 140m, width of 29m, draft of 10m and 28,000 tonne displacement.
“In addition to the increased capacity of the new marine lift, SJD is located within an ice-free harbour in closest proximity to the eastern Arctic. The proposed project vessel capacity and its strategic location for a repair and maintenance focused facility is critical to Canada’s Arctic sovereignty and economic security.”
The pre-FEED (preliminary front-end engineering design) has been completed and initial phases of the expansion are underway.
“Engineering and design are currently ongoing with construction anticipated to start in late 2026 /early 2027 with completion in late 2028 or early 2029. Key activities during the construction phase will include: demolition of existing piers with replacement with a stronger steel piled/reinforced concrete deck, dredging of harbour sediment to obtain required drafts, installation of a new marine lift, in-filling of existing graving dock with new steel pile/reinforced concrete slab for a new vessel berth and demolition of an aging fabrication shop with a new steel pile/reinforced concrete slab as an additional marine vessel berth.”
The St. John’s Dockyard has been in operation in its current location since the 1880s. It was acquired by an Indigenous-led partnership between Membertou First Nation, Qalipu First Nation and Horizon Naval Engineering in the fall of 2024.
There is opportunity for public comments during the environmental assessment review process of the project.
