Companies preparing for work from shipbuilding contract

The Irving Shipbuilding contract is expected to create work for Nova Scotia companies for the next three decades - opportunities they are preparing for already, according to The Chronicle Herald.

"It's such a huge opportunity. There's no way that I didn't want to be involved with it," Matthew MacKenzie of MacKenzie Atlantic Tool & Die/Machining Ltd. told the paper. To ramp up for the subcontracted work, the company recently secured a loan that will allow it to focus its efforts on building relationships within the defence sector and hone the skills necessary to complete large projects. MacKenzie said he also predicts the company will bring on 20 more employees within the year and expand further.

Nova Scotia was awarded a job this size because it has a world-class defence infrastructure in place already, and companies like MacKenzie Atlantic Tool & Die/Machining and others can leverage the skilled labour pool, resources and expertise to compete on a global scale.