Wartime Shipbuilding Limited (Canada) : In 1940 the loss of shipping in the Atlantic was so serious that the United Kingdom took steps to restore and increase its Merchant Navy. In December 1940 orders were placed in Canada for 26 ten thousand ton cargo vessels. The first keel was laid only in April 1941, because the capacity of Canada's shipbuilding industry was extremely limited. Also, in April 1941 alone sinkings in the Atlantic were so great that they represented one-fourth of the annual shipbuilding capacity of the United Kingdom and over half of all merchant tonnage on order in both United States and Canada. Britain called on Canada urgently to build as many cargo ships as possible.
On 4 April 1941 Wartime Merchant Shipping Limited incorporated as a Crown company with its head office in Montreal. An agreement with the Department of Munitions and Supply set out the Company's right and obligations to negotiate and supervise the performance of contracts for the building of cargo ships and to construct and operate the required shipyards and plants. Within three months the Company was fully organized, with a staff of 109, and assumed responsibility from the Technical Merchant Shipbuilding Mission of the United Kingdom for the 26 ships already on order.
The cargo shipbuilding programme was hardly underway when the United Kingdom urgently requested the Canadian government to build naval escort vessels, and placed an order for 16 minesweepers. Towards the end of 1941 the naval programme was transferred to the Naval Shipbuilding Branch of the Department of Munitions and Supply. However, on 15 January 1944 the naval and cargo shipbuilding programmes merged and the Company changed its name to Wartime Shipbuilding Limited.
At the time of the transfer nine shipyards (34 berths) were building naval vessels and ten yards (38 berths) cargo vessels. One yard with six berths constructed both corvettes and tankers. In addition, there were four outfitting yards. By the end of 1946 the Company had negotiated and issued 688 contracts for ships, components and projects, had paid about .2 billion to shipbuilders and manufacturers, and had invested 8 million in capital expenditures. It had supervised a shipbuilding industry of some 126,000 men who produced 410 cargo ships and 4,043 naval vessels (most of the latter were landing craft). At its wartime peak, in September 1943, the industry was able to deliver the ten thousand ton S.S. Fort Romaine in 58 days from the laying of the keel.
In 1945 the organization of the Company had, working directly under the President, a Vice-President in charge of Pacific Coast operations; two Assistants to the President, one in charge of the Operations Department and the other in charge of the Construction Department; the Manager of the Procurement Department; the Manager of the Shipyard Organization and Personnel Department; and the Secretary.
Wartime Shipbuilding Limited surrendered its company charter on 1 June 1948. The Presidents of Wartime Merchant Shipping Limited and Wartime Shipbuilding Limited were Harvey Reginald MacMillan, April 1941 - December 1943; C.L. Dewar, December 1943 - October 1945; and David B. Carswell, October 1945 - June 1948.
