Canada: Anglo Pacific to Relocate Professional Workers Needed for NSPS

The business community of Nova Scotia, Canada, is bracing itself for an influx of cash and people thanks to a $35-billion CAD Federal Government shipbuilding programme. Thousands of direct and indirect jobs will be created at the contract-winning Irving Shipbuilding Inc (ISI) each year and international removals company Anglo Pacific is gearing up to relocate the many professionals set to move from the UK and fill those roles.

Anglo Pacific works in partnership with emigration specialists, UK 2 Nova Scotia, which acts for Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding to attract skilled workers from the UK. Director Mike Wilson believes that the impact on Halifax should not be underestimated. “As the Regional Municipality of Halifax on Canada’s eastern seaboard has a population of less than 400,000, the creation of thousands of new jobs each year will literally signify a wholesale change in direction. New skills from core shipbuilding through to construction, IT and engineering will need to be imported into Halifax with Canada, the US and specifically the UK as key source nations.”

The largest shipbuilding deal in Canadian history, the October 2011 announcement tasks Halifax-based ISI with building 21 combat vessels for the Navy in a $25-billion deal over the next 30 years. The first steel is expected to be cut in late 2012. Estimates suggest that the activity will account for more than 1% of total employment in the province and that real GDP will see a boost of around $800 million CAD each year. Once the warships are complete, a fresh round of Government work is expected to be awarded. The news gives the region’s economy a long-term stable outlook.

[mappress]

Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, February 3, 2012; Image: gc.ca