The Complete, Made in Canada Propeller Shaft Solution

The impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s economy has been far-reaching. Once the country pivots towards economic recovery, all efforts should be made to maintain the defence spending committed under Strong, Secure, Engaged and large procurement efforts as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

At a time when domestic jobs and the resiliency of global supply chain solutions are being tested in extraordinary ways, the consortium provides an opportunity to generate and showcase a “sovereign” industrial capability that, if leveraged as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, would sustain hundreds of highly-skilled Canadian manufacturing jobs and create many more new full-time positions right here in Canada. The NSS committed in 2010 to “developing and maintaining expertise and creating sustainable employment across the country.” The NSS projects represent thousands of domestic jobs across the country, particularly through the manufacturing supply chain.

This consortium is in alignment with the principal tenets of the Government of Canada’s Shipbuilding Strategy, to “rebuild our marine industry and create sustainable jobs in Canada while ensuring our sovereignty and protecting our interests at home and abroad.” Currently, while parts of the shaft lines on Canadian Coast Guard and Navy vessels have been supplied domestically, never before has a complete, made-in-Canada shaft line system been made available.

Headquartered in Burlington, ON, Thordon Bearings Inc., a Thomson-Gordon Group company, is a family-owned business manufacturing high performance, oil and grease-free bearing systems, seals and other shaft line products for the global marine, clean power, pump and industrial markets. Thordon Bearing systems offer exceptional wear life, a low coefficient of friction and can be easily machined on site. In-house design engineers consult with customers to provide innovative bearing system designs that meet or exceed the customer’s technical requirements. Thordon Bearings' engineering and quality focus has earned worldwide recognition.

Headquartered in Ottawa, ON, Dominis Engineering is recognized leader in ship propeller manufacturing and design. The company’s own state-of-the-art technology for CNC milling to "final form and finish" is used to manufacture monoblock propellers, CP propeller blades and water jet impellers for Canadian and US Navy and Coast Guard vessels. Dominis’ technology eliminates robotic grinding of propeller surfaces and hand finishing of leading edges from the manufacturing process. Dominis is the only “sovereign” propeller manufacturing facility in Canada.

Headquartered in Brantford, ON, Patriot Forge is the largest custom open-die and rolled ring forging company in Canada and a leader in the global market. Patriot specializes in producing high grade specialty steel and metal alloy components that are sold on the global market in sectors such as oil and gas, nuclear power, infrastructure, aerospace and the military. Only the forging process can yield a grain structure oriented to the part shape, resulting in optimum toughness, ductility, impact strength, and fatigue strength. Forged materials are often the only option for highly critical applications.