J. D. Irving
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry |
|
| Founded | 1882, in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Founder | James Dergavel Irving |
| Headquarters | , Canada |
Area served | Worldwide with operations throughout North America. |
Key people |
|
| Owner | James K. Irving |
Number of employees | 20,000 |
| Parent | Irving Group of Companies |
| Divisions | Irving Forest Products & Services Irving Transportation Services Irving Shipbuilding & Industrial Fabrication Irving Retail & Distribution Services Irving Consumer Products Irving Industrial Equipment & Construction Irving Specialty Printing Irving Tissue |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [1][2][3] | |
J. D. Irving Limited (JDI) is a privately owned conglomerate company headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a part of the Irving Group of Companies and consists of various subsidiaries such as Irving Tissue, Irving Equipment, Kent Building Supplies, New Brunswick Railway, New Brunswick Southern Railway, Eastern Maine Railway, Maine Northern Railway, Brunswick News, Acadia Broadcasting, Irving Shipbuilding, and Cavendish Farms, among others.[4] It is involved in many industries including forestry, forestry products, agriculture, food processing, transportation, and shipbuilding. JDI along with Irving Oil, Ocean Capital Investments and Brunswick News, forms the bulk of the Irving Group of Companies, which groups the interests of the Irving family.
History
J.D. Irving Limited (JDI) traces its roots to a sawmill operated in Bouctouche, New Brunswick by its namesake, James Dergavel Irving.[1] J.D. Irving's operations were passed to his children, one of whom, Kenneth Colin Irving, assumed majority ownership and used JDI to expand into pulp and paper and other forestry-related businesses between the 1920s and 1940s.
In the post-war years, JDI acquired pulp mills in Saint John and upstate New York, as well as sawmills throughout New Brunswick. During the 1950s, JDI took control of a shipyard in Saint John and started several trucking companies and heavy industry companies like Irving Equipment to satisfy the growing needs of the company.
In the 1970s and 1980s, JDI expanded into trucking with its Scot Truck subsidiary based in Debert, NS. Now called Midland Transport and based in Dieppe, NB, it is joined by sister companies Midland Courier (Dieppe), Sunbury Transport (Fredericton) and RST Industries (Saint John).
JDI is also the a shipbuilder in Canada with ownership of shipyards in Halifax, Liverpool, Shelburne, and Georgetown.
Incidents
As a large regional industrial conglomerate, J.D. Irving Ltd. subsidiaries have been the focus of several notable incidents:
- In 1970, an oil barge named Irving Whale sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence causing periodic oil spills until it was raised by the federal government in 1996.
- In 2007, the Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd. mill at Reversing Falls accidentally released 680,000 litres of green liquid into the Saint John River; pleading guilty, the company received a fine of $50,000. In November 2008, Environment Canada investigators exercised a search warrant at Irving Pulp & Paper's head office to seek more information on this accidental spill.
- In November 2008, JDI Logistics and Atlantic Towing made the news over an accident involving the transport of 2 new turbines from Saint John Harbour to the nearby Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station. The JDI subsidiaries had been sub-contracted by Siemens AG, Turbine Replacement sub-contractor for the facility's owner NB Power. The 2 turbines were manufactured by Siemens AG in Scotland and were shipped to Saint John on a road transport vehicle aboard a cargo ship. The cargo was off-loaded from the ship onto a barge owned by Atlantic Towing Ltd., however the cargo shifted and the barge tipped, sending the turbines and the road transport vehicle into Saint John Harbour.
- In late November 2008, the Atlantic Towing Ltd. dredging barge Shovel Master was being towed by the company's tugboat Atlantic Larch from Saint John to Halifax for a refit when it foundered in heavy seas 20 nmi (37 km) west of Yarmouth, NS. The barge crew of 3 was rescued by a CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue helicopter before the barge capsized. Several ATL tugboats and commercial divers responded and a tow line was secured to the capsized, yet floating, barge by the tugboat Atlantic Oak. The barge was towed 45 nmi (83 km) south of Yarmouth however it sank in 150 m (490 ft), carrying 70,000 L (18,000 US gal) of diesel fuel, as well as 1,000 L (260 US gal) of hydraulic fluid and 5,000 L (1,300 US gal) of waste oil.
Controversies
J.D. Irving’s ownership of most major media outlets in New Brunswick has led to ongoing concern regarding control of the media. A report from the Canadian Senate in 2006, on media control in Canada singled out New Brunswick because of the Irving companies' ownership of all English-language daily newspapers in the province, including the Telegraph-Journal. Senator Joan Fraser, author of the Senate report, stated, "We didn't find anywhere else in the developed world a situation like the situation in New Brunswick."[5] The report went further, stating, "the Irvings' corporate interests form an industrial-media complex that dominates the province" to a degree "unique in developed countries." At the Senate hearing, journalists and academics cited Irving newspapers' lack of critical reporting on the family's influential businesses.[6]
Divisions
The following is a list of notable divisions of J.D. Irving, Ltd.
- Irving Tissue Co. Ltd.
- New Brunswick Railway Co. Ltd.
- Saint John Shipbuilding
- Halifax Shipyard
- Irving Tissue (Royale, Scotties, private labels)
- Cavendish Farms (frozen potato processing)
- Irving Equipment (crane rental, heavy lifting, specialized transportation, pile driving and project management services)
- Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey Legue
- Brunswick News
A selection of former subsidiaries
East Isle Shipyard
East Isle Shipyard is a shipbuilding facility in Georgetown, Prince Edward Island and owned by Irving.[7] The small shipyard is located on Water Street with single slipway along Georgetown Harbour. It is the sole shipbuilding facility in the province.
It was founded as Bathurst Marine in Bathurst, New Brunswick in 1961,[8] before moving to Georgetown in 1965.[9] The facility has operated in various names but with current name since the 1990s.[9]
The yard built trawlers in the 1960s, the diversified in the 1970s, before it began to specialize in tugs in the 1990s.[9]
In 2010, the shipyard laid off staff due to lack of orders.[10]
Notable ships built here include:
- Atlantic Spruce fireboat tug (1995)
- Atlantic Oak tugboat (2004)
- Royal Canadian Navy's Glen class tugs:
- CFAV Glenevis (YTB 642) (1976)
- CFAV Glenbrook (YTB 643) (1976)
- CFAV Glenside (YTB 644) (1977)
Citations
- ^ a b "History". J.D. Irving, Limited. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "About Us". J.D. Irving, Limited. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ "J.D. Irving, Limited". Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ Canadian Encyclopedia 2020.
- ^ "CBC: Feds must examine Irving media empire". 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
- ^ "The Star: Hot scoop burns reporter at Irving paper". 2009-06-17. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
- ^ "Irving Shipbuilding: Home".
- ^ "Canada Business Listing".
- ^ a b c "East Isle Shipyard Georgetown PEI".
- ^ "Layoffs at East Isle Shipyard | CBC News".
References
- Ratchford, Sarah; Anderson, Peter S.; Yusufali, Sasha (January 14, 2020) [August 6, 2009]. Irving Group of Companies. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
External links
