Lunenburg Shipyard and East River Shipyard, located in Lunenburg and Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, have come under majority ownership of Glooscap First Nation.
Both southwest Nova Scotia yards were recently purchased by Brad Boutilier, a mariner turned businessman. He said that the purchase by Glooscap Ventures, the investment arm of the Glooscap First Nations community, was around a year in the making. As his group of companies grew, Boutilier was looking for a business partner to further the growth of the shipyards.
“It was a conversation as to what each other was doing, and then a recognition of synergies. I was very much looking for a partner as I grew. I’m a sole owner of these businesses as they grow,
and was looking for the right partner,” said Boutilier. “This seemed like an amazing fit.”
Boutilier also added that he retained a minority stake in the business and will remain on as CEO of the shipyards.
Michael Peters, CEO of Glooscap Ventures, said that Glooscap First Nation wished to diversify their portfolio in new areas of the marine sector outside of the fishery. Before their shipyard purchase, Glooscap Ventures’ holdings included Glooscap Seafood, Glooscap Fisheries, Yarmouth Bar Fisheries and SeaKist Lobster Limited.
“We were looking at ways to get more involved in that, and we came across Brad and his group and we really liked him and all the stuff he was working on,” said Peters. “We had conversations, and things seemed to line up and we decided to work together to move East River Shipyard, Lunenburg Shipyard and possible future endeavours forward.”
Since being bought by Boutilier, East River Shipyard and Lunenburg Shipyard have mostly worked on fishing boats, pleasure boats and some Canadian Coast Guard contracts. With Glooscap Ventures taking over as a majority stakeholder, the company is looking to see both yards take on more defence contracts as time goes on.
To achieve these goals, Glooscap Ventures created a separate holding known as Glooscap Defence.
“We really build on to that and expand it. East River Shipyard, for example, as a 150-tonne lift. We certainly want to get a larger lift, up to 700 tonnes. The Lunenburg marine railways have opportunities to be upgraded and improved. Right now, they’re doing a lot of repair and maintenance on boats, and eventually we want to get into some construction,” said Peters.
When it comes to federal procurement of defence, Coast Guard and Transport Canada contracts, Canada has a minimum target of five per cent for Indigenous companies like Glooscap Defence. Peters said that the shipyards will attempt to take part in this targeted contracting to bring government contracts to the area.
“We’re certainly going to be starting off small. It is a relatively small shipyard compared to some of the others in Halifax and other parts of Canada, but we’re going to start with auxiliary vehicles and other small vessels,” said Peters. “We’re hoping to work in partnerships with other defence contractors across the country, as well, but we believe there is a lot of opportunity for participation the defence sector, and particularly the marine sector, especially here in Nova Scotia.”
With the prospect of growth on the horizon for the two shipyards, Boutilier said there are a lot of opportunities coming to the region that would not have been possible without the partnership with Glooscap Ventures. He added that the combined workforce of the East River and Lunenburg Shipyards will double from 40 to over 80 by summer 2025.
“It’s going to be great for everybody; great for the workforce, great for the Lunenburg and Chester communities and we’ll be able to do a lot that I wouldn’t be able to do on my own,” said Boutilier.
