Allied Shipbuilders Ltd.

Allied Shipbuildesrs Ltd is a privately held shipbuilder established in Canada in 1948.

Company profile

Founded in 1948 by T.A. McLaren(1919-1999), Allied Shipbuilders is one of the oldest continually operating shipyards on the Pacific Coast of North America.

Located at the mouth of the Seymour River in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The company provides shipbuilding, ship repair, and engineering services to ferries, fish boats, and tugs that operate on the Pacific Coast.

Now primarily a repair yard, Allied has constructed 258 hulls, including fish boats, log barges, ferries, Arctic icebreakers, tugs, and harbour patrol vessels, over its 58 year history.

Other organizations sharing Allieds site are Western Machine Works (providing hydraulic tow pin units for tug boats), and Coast Engineering Works, who build and service marine drive shafts.

Located on site, but not owned by Allied, are Osbourne Propellers and Fishold Services Ltd.

Modern vessels

* Hull 72 M/V North Island Princess - 1958

* Hull 108 M/V Quadra Queen - 1960 Now the MV Spirit of Lax Kw'alaams

* Hull 117 M/V Garibaldi - 1961 now named the MV Albert J. Soveit.

* Hull 164 M/V Tachek - 1969

* Hull 165 M/V Quadra Queen II - 1969

Since 1990, Allied has constructed six hulls, with a seventh under constructionFact|date=November 2007.

Internally these are numbered Hulls 254-259

* Hull 258 was a harbour patrol vessel, the Takaya, built for the Vancouver Port Authority. It joined its sister ship the Kla-Wichen(hull 245) also built by Allied.

* Hull 257 was Allied's last major vessel, the Skeena Queen a Century class ferry, currently the newest vessel in the BC Ferries Fleet.

*Hull 256 was a Catamaran Patrol Vessel purpose built for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Inkster. The Inkster allows the RCMP to service communities on the BC North Coast.

*Hulls 255 and 254 were the forward hull sections for the two Spirit Class ferries, the Spirit of British Columbia and the Spirit of Vancouver Island.

* St. Laurent class destroyer and Restigouche class destroyer during the 1950s

Presently under construction on Allied's North Vancouver launchways is Hull number 259, a Utah State Ferry undergoing redesign for BC Ferries. The capacity of the MV John Atlantic Burr is to be expanded with an addition to the middle of the hull. When rechristened, the MV John Atlantic Burr will join its sister ships, the K class ferry vessels, in the BC Ferries fleet. The launching, the first at Allied since 1997, is expected to take place by October.

hips of steel

Allied's founder, Thomas Arthur McLaren, a Professional Engineer and Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, along with Vancouver author Vickie Jensen published the book Ships of Steel, recounting the stories gathered by T.A during his many years in the shipbuilding industry. The book was published after T.A.'s passing in 1999.

External links

* [http://alliedship.com/ Allied Shipbuilders Ltd.]
* [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1550172425 Ships of Steel]
* [http://www.shipbuilding.ca/home.shtml/ Shipbuilding Association of Canada]