A new partnership on Vancouver Island is taking aim at a familiar problem across B.C.’s marine sector: not enough skilled tradespeople and not enough young workers entering the pipeline.
In late April, Seaspan announced a multi-year investment of up to $3 million to support the Coast Salish Employment and Training Society (CSETS) in building trades training programs for Indigenous youth. The initiative, based in Esquimalt, is geared toward shipbuilding and ship repair, two areas where labour demand continues to outpace supply.
For the tug and barge sector, the connection is direct. Seaspan Marine, the largest operator on the West Coast, depends on a steady flow of tradespeople to keep vessels operational. That includes welders, electricians, and marine mechanics, roles that are increasingly difficult to fill as experienced workers retire and project workloads grow.
The new training streams are practical and entry-focused: skills upgrading, a trades sampler program, entry-level ship repair training, and pathways into apprenticeships. The goal is to give participants a clear on-ramp into marine trades rather than a one-off training experience.
CSETS, which serves 19 First Nations and three Friendship Centres across southern Vancouver Island, will deliver the programs and provide support throughout. That includes help covering costs, along with mentorship and cultural components designed to keep participants engaged through completion, an area where many training programs fall short.
Seaspan has been building out its workforce development efforts for several years, tied in part to its role under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy. The company is currently responsible for constructing a series of vessels for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard, while continuing repair and maintenance work at Victoria Shipyards.
That sustained workload is part of what’s driving labour pressure across the coast. Shipyards are busy, maintenance cycles are tightening, and operators are trying to avoid downtime tied to crew or repair delays. For tug companies in particular, even small gaps in skilled labour can ripple into scheduling and service reliability.
The partnership also reflects a broader shift in how companies are approaching recruitment. Rather than competing over the same limited labour pool, there’s a growing push to build new pipelines, particularly in communities that have been underrepresented in the industry.
Seaspan has already expanded its work with Indigenous partners in other areas of its business, including its involvement in HaiSea Marine, which supports LNG shipping on B.C.’s North Coast.
For the tug sector, solving labour shortages will depend on long-term training and local access to careers, not just short-term hiring. Programs like this won’t fix the gap overnight, but they start to address where the next generation of tradespeople is coming from and how they will enter the industry.
