Troy Shantz
The vast majority of the large and specialized industrial components going into a $2.5-billion expansion at Nova Chemicals were built right here in Sarnia-Lambton, says a senior company official and Sarnia native.
Local fabricators have delivered more than 55 oversized loads to the Corunna Cracker expansion and the new polyethylene plant going up in St. Clair Township, said Rob Thompson, Eastern vice-president of manufacturing.
“The Sarnia-Lambton workforce is really competitive from a global perspective in terms of its efficiency and its safety record.”
More than 65% of infield construction is now complete, with most of the pipe racks and other superstructures on-site and being “bolted-up,” said Thompson.
Start-up is expected in late 2022.
Nova is already the largest local private employer with three manufacturing facilities and one corporate office in Sarnia-Lambton, and the projects have added about $1.1 billion to the provincial economy in labour and materials, the company said.
About 1,800 workers over two shifts are on the job site daily, a largely local force combined with tradespeople from across Canada.
“That’s just the construction workforce. Then we have our normal Nova complement that are running all our facilities that are still in operation,” Thompson said.
About 150 additional full-time workers will be needed to run the expanded facilities, and about half have already been hired. Officials estimate another 750 spinoff jobs will be created.
“Our progress has been on mechanical completion and assembly of prefabricated parts. Now we’re going to move into a period of heavier electrical and instrumentation work,” Thompson said.
The first of eight electrical substations were safely energized in March.
The new unit at Rokeby Line will be able to produce up to one billion pounds of polyethylene per year – a 50% capacity increase - with the cracker expansion providing the ethylene feedstock.
Thompson said the projects are a great example of Canadian innovation the entire community can be proud of.
“In this period of pandemic where there’s a lot of darkness… it’s something that we’ve been able to demonstrate that we can do this, we can do it safely, and the workforce in Sarnia-Lambton is world-class.
“That we can pull this off in the face of COVID-19 - it’s inspiring.”
