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NEWS photo #1 Lucente

DALE CHEYNE glides past a pylon at a soapbox derby course at Karen Magnussen Arena in the District of North Vancouver. Dale and other local
phildren built and raced their soapbox vehicles as part of a class pat on recently by the North Vancouver Recreation Commission.

But majority of work to to Victoria

FEDS AWARD
$35 MILLION CONTRAC

NORTH VANCOUVER-based Versatile Pacific Shipyards
Inc. was awarded a $35 million federal government contract
Wednesday to build two search and rescue vessels for the

Canadian Coast Guard.

But virtually all of the actual
construction work on the two
50-metre, Type 500 ships will be
done at Versatile’s Victoria yard,
and a union representative said the
decision (9 concentrate the work in

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW
News Reporter

Victoria represents further contir-
mation that the shipbuilding por-

EVES Grea eh eee an ataned oe eS

tion of the company’s North Van-
couver yard is being phased out.

Versatile president David Alsop
estimated 125 jobs would result
from the new contract.

He said design work on the two
vessels will begin immediately and
actual steel fabrication would start
in April. Versatile’s North Van-
couver yard will provide produc-
tion support and steel preparation

work, Alsop said.

Estimated delivery date of
first vessel is early 1990.

In a press release, company
management stated that the $35
million contract would be helpful
in implementing advanced  ship-
building methods leading up to the
start of construction on the $350
million Polar Class 8 icebreaker.
Marine Workers and

the

But

VERSATILE

Boilermakers {Industrial Union
(MWBIU) president John Fitz-
patrick said Thursday Versatile’s
North Vancouver yard is less anti-
quated and far beuer suited to
building the size of vessels called
for in the contract than the Vic-
toria yard,
“lt confirms my suspicions that
Sea Snip
Pege 2