Kate Morton on building a sovereign Canadian shipbuilding supply chain
Kate Morton started her career as a commercial lawyer in the U.K. before moving to Canada and landing on Seaspan's contracts team in the early years of the National Shipbuilding Strategy.
Today she leads Seaspan's Supply Chain team, overseeing everything needed to design and build Canada's future fleet, and more than 800 Canadian partners feeding into it.
Vanguard spoke with Morton about her path into shipbuilding, what she has learned from a decade of supply chain shocks, and why she sees Canada's icebreaker program as proof of what a sovereign industrial base can do.
How did you start out in this industry, and how has it brought you to where you are today?
I never set out to end up in shipbuilding. I started my career as a commercial lawyer in the U.K. When I moved to Canada, I found a role on Seaspan's contracts team in the early years of the National Shipbuilding Strategy and got to learn the business in the best way possible: hands-on, working across both the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel and Joint Support Ship programs. What hooked me was watching contracts and negotiations turn into actual ships and actual jobs. There's something deeply satisfying about that, commercial thinking that leads to something you can point to and say, "we built that."
What is your role at the organization today?
Today, I lead Seaspan's Supply Chain team. In plain terms, we procure everything needed to design and build Canada's future fleet, but the job is much bigger than checking boxes on delivery and cost. A huge part of what drives us is building a genuinely sovereign Canadian supply chain: working with Canadian businesses so the skills, capacity and industrial muscle exist here in Canada for decades, not just for one program. It's strategy, partnership and execution all rolled together, and I love that.
What was your most challenging moment?
Shipbuilding is not for the faint of heart, and it certainly keeps us on our toes. Some of the most challenging moments in my career have been when external events have forced us to react quickly to protect the program. COVID hit Italy and disrupted one of our helicopter handling system suppliers overnight, and we had to scramble to keep the program moving. More recently it's been tariffs and geopolitical shocks rippling through global supply chains. What those moments taught me is that agility isn't optional, and complacency is a luxury we can't afford. But the real lesson is about relationships, it's the trust we've built with suppliers that gets us through when things go sideways.
What was your a-ha moment or epiphany, and why do you think that story will resonate with readers?
My biggest aha moment was realizing that the National Shipbuilding Strategy is about much more than building ships. Early in my career, I focused on delivering contracts, equipment and vessels on schedule. My real epiphany was realizing that every sourcing decision we make is also a brick in Canada's industrial resilience. That's hit home hard lately: critical mineral disruptions, geopolitical tension over component manufacturing, and shipping routes closing help you see how fast something halfway around the world can throw a wrench into what we're building here. Building a strong Canadian industrial base isn't just good economics, it's a strategic necessity. And what genuinely moves me is watching Canadian suppliers grow through these programs and then go compete globally on their own merit. The ships matter, but the capability we leave behind extends far beyond the shipyard.
What is the one thing that has you most fired up today?
Watching Canadian companies pull off things they wouldn't have believed possible a few years back. Our icebreaker design and build work is a perfect example. Seaspan's design has now been selected by both Rauma and Bollinger for the U.S. Coast Guard's Arctic Security Cutter program, which is a huge vote of confidence internationally. But what really energizes me is the ripple effect: more than $350 million in follow-on work for Canadian suppliers like Earl's Marine, Glamox and BCS Automation. That's the real payoff, investing in Canadian capability doesn't just help us, it opens doors those companies walk through on their own.
What is the best advice you received?
Trust your judgment. Listen widely, challenge your own thinking, push back on yourself, but at some point you have to decide and back yourself. In this industry the facts are never perfectly clean and the stakes are real. If you've put in the work, understand the risks, and act with integrity you should trust your instincts and move forward with confidence.
What is a habit that contributes to your success?
Never fail to prepare and never stop learning. Putting in the work upfront pays off more often than not, but staying humble matters just as much. The moment you think you've got it all figured out is probably the moment you stop growing.
What is your parting piece of advice?
Invest in people. Whatever you're leading, a team, a client relationship, a supplier partnership, success comes from empowering the people around you and giving them real ownership. Shipbuilding is never a one-person achievement, it succeeds because talented people row in the same direction. On our Supply Chain team, we call everyone, buyers, administrators, on-site managers, shipbuilders. It's a small thing, but it's a reminder that everyone shapes the outcome, and people do their best work when they feel connected to the mission.
What people or organizations do you believe best embody the innovation mindset?
The organizations I admire most aren't necessarily inventing new technology, they're solving old problems in new ways and adapting fast. Ideal Welders is a favourite example: a company rooted in oil and gas that pivoted into complex block construction for our Polar Icebreaker program. Similarly, EB Horsman started as an electrical distributor and grew into a serious marine supply partner. Both took a leap into unfamiliar territory and built real capability doing it. That's what innovation looks like on the ground, reaching for something just out of grasp and growing into it.
How is your organization changing the industry?
Seaspan is proud to be building and maintaining ships for Canada in Canada, with the long-term goal of maintaining the capability to build ships Canada needs to defend our country and our sovereignty. We are building the largest in-house Canadian marine design and engineering firm, developing a domestic supply chain of more than 800 Canadian partners, providing in-service support for complex Coast Guard and Naval vessels, and designing and building the largest and most capable icebreaker built fully in Canada in more than 60 years. We are building 21 icebreaker vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and have already launched four Polar Class vessels.
What are the biggest impediments to innovation in your industry?
We are fully supportive of Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy. It is a bold step forward for our industry to continue to grow, develop key capabilities and sustain thousands of good jobs for Canadians. Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy is working, and Seaspan is now using robotic welding, 3D modelling and augmented reality technology so we can build ships efficiently and safely. To succeed, we need continual investment in this strategy and its initiatives.
How has innovation become engrained in your organization's culture, and how is it being optimized?
Seaspan is committed to exploring and developing solutions that leverage emerging technologies and contribute to strategic growth and sustainability in our shipyards. Our in-house innovation team investigates, evaluates and applies emerging technologies that advance the shipyard's capabilities. Reality capture technologies, like laser scanning and 360-degree photos, were used to track changes during the outfitting of CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk. In 2025 we debuted additive manufacturing to enable faster production of custom parts while reducing waste and supply chain delays. Ongoing work includes immersive virtual reality simulations of complex vessel systems, including ROV deployment from the Ocean Sampling Room on the future CCGS Imnaryuaq, Seaspan's heavy polar icebreaker.
What technologies, business models or trends will drive the biggest changes in your industry over the next two years?
Continually improving our supply chain is critical to maintaining Seaspan's momentum. We have a robust prequalification process for suppliers to ensure they meet quality, environmental compliance and safety standards. Our Indigenous procurement strategy aims to make Indigenous suppliers a regular and integral part of our supply chain while progressing with economic reconciliation, guided by four pillars: awareness, relationship-building, economic empowerment and continuous improvement. The shipyards that will succeed in the next few years are the ones who prioritize sovereign supply chain resilience. Defence-adjacent programs are increasingly demanding security-cleared vendors and traceable supply chains, and shipbuilders who have already built that infrastructure will be the ones Canada can depend on.
