A couple weeks ago in lecture we had discussed the sunk costs of the ships for BC Ferries and how terrible of a decision it was to sell for cheap. Knowing this was already a terrible decision, it seems that this wasn’t the only bust for BC’s shipbuilding industry in recent years.
BC used to have a solid shipbuilding industry that created thousands of jobs, but over the past decade, the industry workforce has diminished to only a few hundred. Recently in 2004, more than 5000 jobs could have been created but the half a billion dollars in contracts were given to Germans instead. This is almost like another sunk cost; BC hasn’t exactly made the best decisions in the past decade.
Fortunately, $11.3billion in contracts has been given to boost local shipbuilding for the first time in years. This will not only increase our employment rate in BC, but these non-combat vessels can come in handy to support all kinds of businesses. The article does not specify what they will be used for, but as non-combat vessels, they can definitely provide for the marine industry or even the fishing industry. I can see this contract as one that will provide benefits for the entire country as a whole for many years to come.