An ideal location for passenger ship refits

Seaspan Victoria Shipyards' Joseph O’Rourke discusses being competitive in North America

An ideal location for passenger ship refits

By Sean Dudley |


This article was first published in the Autumn/Winter 2015 issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review.

From its base on Vancouver Island in south-west Canada, Victoria Shipyards is in a great position to meet the needs of the cruise industry on the west coast of the North American continent.

Joseph O’Rourke was appointed vice president and general manager of Seaspan Victoria Shipyards earlier this year, having worked previously at a number of west coast shipyards, including in San Francisco, Los Angeles and most recently at Vigor Industrial in Portland, US.

“Being located where vessels transition to the Alaska market and then back out again, we’re a very good stopping point,” O’Rourke says. “There is competition from San Francisco and Portland on the west coast, but we’ve been able to hold our own in terms of retaining and executing a consistent amount of cruise business.”

A drydocking of the Crown Princess was completed at Victoria Shipyard in May 2015.

“This was a standard hull and propulsion systems package over 11 days,” explains O’Rourke. “It did include significant work on the thrusters and the installation of two-scrubber systems. This was the first time Victoria Shipyards had installed two scrubbers under one contract and the customer was very pleased with both the quality of the work and the significant learning curve we have developed on these systems.”

Ruby Princess, the sister ship of the Crown Princess, is due for docking and a two scrubber installation at the yard in December 2015. The Crystal Serenity and the Celebrity Millennium will then follow, with back-to-back dockings in April and May 2016. Both will be standard repair jobs, and scrubber systems will be introduced to the Millennium vessel.

“We have a strong relationship with Princess and Crystal, as well as several others,” O’Rourke says. “We continue to build on that and go forward. I’ve always made the case that if your shipyard can execute cruise ship contracts then they can execute anything, because that is about the most time-intensive, stressful situation you can be in. You have to deliver on time, at the proper quality and price. You have to hit it every time, because the first time you do fail, it causes an impact in the market that can severely limit your opportunities.”

The yard has an ongoing arrangement with the Royal Canadian Navy, as well as other commercial customers, but O’Rourke says passenger ships present a unique challenge when it comes to repairs and refurbishment.

“The time period is always short and intense and any problems around new work have to be solved and integrated on a real-time basis to ensure the vessel departs on time,” he says. “We are fortunate to have developed a management and production team that enjoys and rises to the challenge and stress related to such intense projects, and takes great pride in their work.”

Thanks to a consistently mild climate, Victoria Shipyards is able to accept and execute throughout the year. “We differentiate ourselves from other facilities in our region by having proved ourselves on delivering on-time and at a high level of quality and performance our competitors strive to achieve,” he concludes. “We are conveniently located at the mouth of the Puget Sound, allowing minimal diversion time to our customers moving vessels around to service the west coast cruising market.”

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