Leading Industry Partners Come Together from Canada’s West and East Coasts
December 14, 2020 – North Vancouver, B.C. – Today Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) announced its 16th project with a total project value of more than $3 million. The Digital Ship In-Service Support Project comes from the OSC’s Accelerated Ocean Solutions Program and brings together two Canadian marine industry leaders from Canada’s west and east coasts to develop and commercialize 3D digital twin capabilities that will help make Canada more globally competitive, drive export opportunities, and create jobs in the marine sector.
Led by British Columbia-based Seaspan Shipyards together with partner and Newfoundland and Labrador-based, Genoa Design International, the Digital Ship In-Service Support Project will receive $2 million from Canada’s Ocean Supercluster with the balance of funding coming from the project participants. This represents the first Ocean Supercluster project to be led out of Canada’s west coast. The relationship between Seaspan and Genoa was originally built under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) and continues to thrive today including a teaming partnership for Canada’s future Polar Icebreaker program. This type of outcome is exactly what the NSS was intended to create.
The project will develop new integrated capabilities for vessel management and maintenance through an advanced technology platform that will help vessel designers, builders, operators and maintainers more efficiently manage vessel lifecycle; reduce down-time for repair and maintenance by providing predictive information; improve vessel design and construction to reduce costs; and integrate multiple data sources by leveraging the language of visualization. The Digital Ship In-Service Support Project makes this possible through its ability to provide:
- Data streams to manage vessel maintenance and predict maintenance issues;
- Dynamically-updated representations of vessels and their subsystems;
- Virtual reality to visually interrogate and interact with 3D digital twin data;
- A network of vessel sensors that report on the condition of the vessel and its subsystems; and
- Advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is an industry-led transformative cluster focused on tackling the shared challenges across ocean sectors through a collaborative program designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of globally-relevant solutions, while also building a highly-capable, inclusive workforce. To encourage innovation and trigger new industry investment during these challenging times, the Ocean Supercluster supplemented its core programs with an additional project stream called Accelerated Ocean Solutions Program (AOSP). This enables the development of smaller projects on a shorter timeline that deliver tangible outcomes, while continuing to build resiliency in our ocean sector.
QUOTES
“The Ocean Supercluster is creating opportunities for Canadian businesses to come together from coast to coast, leading to new and innovative technologies that will solve real-life challenges faced by the ocean sector. The Digital Ship In-Service Project has the potential to distinguish Canada in a multi-billion-dollar global market while driving exports and new high-quality jobs.”
– The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
“This is a project that has been built on an exciting partnership between industry leading companies from Canada’s west and east coasts that will drive new export opportunities, increase our global competitiveness, and create jobs. Collaboration is at the very foundation of what Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is all about, and we can’t wait to see the game-changing outcomes that are delivered by Seaspan and Genoa Design through this exciting new project.”
– Kendra MacDonald, CEO, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
“The marine industry is at an exciting time of innovation, where advanced digital technologies are enabling us to fundamentally transform how we build and maintain ships. With the support of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster and the Government of Canada, this Digital Ship In-Service project will bring new powerful and predictive capabilities for vessel management and maintenance and further Canada’s leadership in this important industry.”
– Dave Belton, Director, Strategy and Business Development, Seaspan Shipyards
“This shared initiative has the power to transform the global shipbuilding industry, and with the support of the Canada’s Ocean Supercluster and the Government of Canada, it begins right here. As the foundation for the Digital Twin, the 3D model offers an incredible tool for collaboration, evaluation, and decision making. Together with long-time partner, Seaspan Shipyards, we look forward to maximizing its potential and building upon its proven success to advance this industry.”
– Laurie Balan, Chief Technical Officer, Genoa Design International
“Digital Twins are one of the top focus areas of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Digital Strategy. Anchored by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Digital Twins incorporate real-time operating data from the physical platform and offer the possibility of optimizing the operation and maintenance of future naval systems. Canadian companies like Seaspan and Genoa have a key role to play in developing Digital Twin capabilities. This project is one great example of Canadian-led innovations being developed in alignment with one of the key priorities of the RCN.”
– Capt(N) Jacques Olivier, Director Digital Navy, Royal Canadian Navy
Media Contacts:
Nancy Andrews
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
nancy.andrews@oceansupercluster.ca
709.725.7070
Keelan Green
Seaspan Shipyards
green@prospectus.ca
613-220-2016
Erika Kelland
Genoa Design International
ekelland@genoadesign.com
709.690.4174
ABOUT SEASPAN SHIPYARDS
Seaspan Shipyards, a division of Seaspan ULC, is a leader in Canada’s shipbuilding and ship repair industry. With modern facilities and a dedicated workforce of 2,700 in North Vancouver and Victoria, the company has proven itself to be a trusted partner on a range of complex projects for both government and the private sector.
Seaspan Shipyards is proud to be Canada’s chosen non-combat shipbuilder under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). In this capacity, the company is building state-of-the-art ships in Canada for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy. Through its NSS-related work, Seaspan Shipyards is creating jobs, generating economic benefits and rebuilding Canada’s shipbuilding and marine industries.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @MoreThanShips
LinkedIn: Seaspan ULC
Instagram: @SeaspanULC
YouTube: Seaspan Shipyards
ABOUT GENOA DESIGN INTERNATIONAL
Genoa Design International has been providing production design and 3D modeling services to shipbuilding and offshore industries from here in Newfoundland and Labrador since 1995. In that time, they’ve become one of the most sought-after production design firms in the North American shipbuilding market with a commitment to quality as an ISO 9001:2015 certified organization.
With a team of more than 200 designers, engineers, naval architects, administrators, and technical support staff dispersed between four locations in Mount Pearl, NL; Vancouver, BC; Halifax, NS; and New Orleans, US, Genoa provides expertise and dedicated support throughout the shipbuilding process.
Currently, Genoa is active in major programs such as Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) as well as commercial and government contracts in the United States. Genoa is proud to play an important role in the NSS, which includes the design of modern, ice-capable ships for the Canadian Coast Guard and icebreakers for the US Coast Guard and Navy.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @genoadesign
LinkedIn: Genoa Design International Ltd.
Instagram: @genoadesign
Facebook: Genoa Design
YouTube: Genoa Design