34 - Wednesday, July 30, 1986 - North Shore News The North Shore’s Italian Experience NOW OPEN ° 50 different pasta dishes ° fresh seafood cooked co.) slate the old Roman way Gourmet Italian Pizza & Calzone * Selection of veal & chicken specialties ¢ Dancing Café ROMA 984-0274 Open from 4:30 p.m. 60 Semisch at Esplanade, North Vancouver (1 block from Seabus) I's the backup service Val Vancouver Auto when you purch: from us. ° ; 9 BMWend only BMW. Wa've beer ‘Going it.for nearly 20 yours, . Row and we've succeeded because our customers’ know they cen rely on us to. stand behind the cars we sell. . SMW builds in technological systems to en- sure the ultimate driving experience, They can’t balls us in, but we're a ways available. ~ Vancouver Auto Sth and Bunard (e04) 738-7381 a Tn NORTH SHORE TODAY Shipbuilding still big business in North Van NORTH VANCOUVER Ci- ty is a shipbuilding town. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter Despite the problems that are currently plaguing the West Coast industry, shipbuilding and ship repair represent the industrial heart and soul of North Vancouver. For the uninitiated, the 4 p.m. shift change at Versatile Pacific Shipyards is still an overwhelming sight to behold as several hundred of the yard’s workers flood into the streets of Lower Lonsdale en masse swinging lunch pails aad temporarily halting all traffic movement in the area In years past that flood of ship- yard workers was measured in the thousands, not hundreds. Workers, helping launch the ships that made up Canada’s navy dur- ing the two wars, also helped launch the economies of North Shore communities. The deep-water harbor and the availability of big timber on the North Shore attracted the area’s original shipbuilders across Bur- rard Inlet from Vancouver yards. SHIPYARDS BORN Wallace Shipyards moved to North Vancouver in 1906, where it flourished and grew into one of B.C.’s biggest yards. In 1921, following a deal be- tween Wallace and John Coughlan and Sons to construct a new dry dock, the Burrard Dry Dock Company was formed. Wallace begat Burrard in 1923; Burrard begat the Burrard-Yar- rows Corp. in 1979; and in 1985, Burrard-Yarrows begat Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc. Burrard has always been the biggest West Coast yard. During the Second World War, the com- pany employed 12,000 people, 7,000 at its North Burrard yard, the present Versatile location, and the balance at its South Burrard yard, which was located on the south shore of Burrard Inlet. In most recent years, Versatile has rolled with the shifting pun- ches of the shipbuilding business, progressing through ferry con- struction to icebreakers. The company’s expertise in the latter is considered the country’s best. VERSATILITY But Versatile president Dave Alsop says the strength of his company remains inherent in its new name, ‘‘versatility. We are adaptable. That’s what the local market demands. We don’t want to become totally specialized in one area.”’ Versatile does close to $100 mil- lion per year in shipbuilding and repair business. With the closure of Bel-Aire Shipyard Ltd. in early 1986, five major shipbuilding and repair companies, including Versatile, remain on the North Shore: Allied Shipbuilders Ltd., Genstar Ship- yards Ltd., McKenzie Barge & Marine Ways Ltd. and Matsumoto Shipyards Ltd. Allied moved to North Van- couver in 1967. In -business 38 years, the company relocated from its False Creek home because, ac- cording to Allied owner Arthur Mclaren, the North Shore offered shipbuilding operations room to move and grow. With a current work force of 125, Allied is the North Shore’s third largest shipbuilding and repair operation. CURRENT SLUMP The company, which does about $20 million worth of business an- nually, employs double that number when it has shipbuilding contracts. In the current ship- building slump, Allied has used industry skil!s and managerial sav- vy to move aggressively into repair of tugs, fishing boats and such ex- otic craft as the replica version of the original HMS Bounty. “We'd. prefer to be ship- builders,’’ Mclaren says, ‘‘but that kind of work is just not around right now. It's survival right now.”’ For Allied, the boom years were the-’60s and ’70s when the yard roared to the sound of tug and fish boat construction. Like Versatile, Allied has moved into icebreaker construction in the °80s. In 1982, the North Shore ship- building industry employed 3,000 people. That number has since dropped by two thirds. The in- dustry pumps close to $125 million annually into the North Shore economy. Though he says the short-term future for North Vancouver ship- yards is uncertain, Alsop says con- fidently that his company will be celebrating its !00th birthday in 1994 ‘*as a going concern.”