B.C. shipyard embroiled in legal battle over New Zealand warship upgrades
CTV
A legal battle is brewing between two of Canada's largest defence contractors over upgrades to a pair of New Zealand navy warships in British Columbia.
The companies, Lockheed Martin Canada and Seaspan Shipyards, were contracted by the New Zealand government to install new combat and surveillance systems aboard Her Majesty's New Zealand ships Te Mana and Te Kaha.
The ships comprise the entirety of New Zealand's frigate fleet and the upgrades are intended to extend the life of the warships into the mid-2030s.
But last year, Seaspan's Victoria Shipyards, which was subcontracted by Lockheed to perform the work, filed a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court alleging that problems with the Lockheed designs were costing the shipyard more than $20 million in delays and workarounds on the first ship alone.
Lockheed Martin Canada responded with a counterclaim, saying the project delays were due to negligence, understaffing and mismanagement at the shipyard. Lockheed said the issues had set the company back more than $10 million per ship as of last July.
"The plaintiff [Victoria Shipyards] has acted in bad faith, comes to the court with unclean hands and is not entitled to an equitable remedy," lawyer Neil Abbott wrote in response to the shipyard's claim.
Lockheed Martin Canada also disputed Seaspan's claim that the Victoria shipyard was selected for the project because of its previous success in upgrading the combat systems on Canada's warships under the domestic frigate modernization and life-extension program.
"Rather, New Zealand knew that LMC [Lockheed Martin Canada] was the leading provider of vessel weapons upgrade systems," Abbott wrote. "LMC felt that New Zealand would more likely award the ANZAC project to LMC if the work would be carried out at a shipyard in another Commonwealth country."
Both ships were due to return to New Zealand from Victoria last year.
