As sub competition heats up, TKMS and Germany making moves in Canada

OTTAWA — Representatives from the German government and submarine builder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems insist there’s no question they can meet Canada’s tight delivery deadline for getting its first new submarine by 2035.

Germany’s Ambassador to Canada Matthias Lüttenberg said Canada’s proposed time frame would not pose a problem — even though Germany and Norway have already signed contracts with TKMS for a dozen subs.

“An earlier delivery is perfectly feasible from our point of view,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Lüttenberg said Germany would be “very happy to welcome Canada in the club” of nations using the 212CD subs, and given that they are NATO allies, that makes interoperability a big part of the sales pitch.

“We think that the offer that we are making to the Canadian government is a very sustainable one. Also, in terms of developing the Canadian shipbuilding industry and through the maintenance and everything that comes with it, will serve a great deal also to the Canadian industries involved and I think that the availability of our ship should not be questioned,” Lüttenberg added.

“This shouldn’t be a problem if everybody agrees who is involved in the project on our side, and if we sit together and find a schedule that works for Norwegians — and I cannot talk on their behalf — but I’m very confident that Norway should see the same way as we see it.”

Canadian defence procurement is infamous for being slow and full of cumbersome processes. But a Canadian representative from TKMS tells The Canadian Press the firm was surprised how quickly Canada moved to narrow down the options for new submarines.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on a trip to Germany earlier this week that TKMS and South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean are the final two contenders for the contract.

The company didn’t expect Canada to do that until at least next month.

Joachim Schönfeld, a representative for TKMS in Canada who is spearheading the German company’s campaign to win the sub contract, said excluding current orders, the company’s delivery options could potentially begin years ahead of the deadline should Canada join the German-Norwegian program.

“If I answer only as representative of TKMS without talking to the current customers, Germany and Norway, because they have a delivery schedule contracted … Without taking that in consideration, we could be at least two years earlier than 2035,” he said.

“We already invested a lot in our construction in Kiel, which originally was the only shipyard where we could construct submarines. But we have acquired some time ago another one in Germany and are currently investing a lot of money for erecting a second, fully-fledged construction line for submarines. And therefore, we can be faster than 2035.”

When Carney visited the German shipyard in Kiel on Tuesday in a rare visit, a company slide deck showed a delivery timeline having the first sub ready for Canada in 2034 and a second in 2036.

Carney said he plans to pay a similar visit to Hanwha’s shipyards in October.

The move this week to narrow down the competition to two is heating up the contest to replace Canada’s four aging and problem-plagued Victoria class subs with advanced modern war machines.

Schönfeld said TKMS has held recent meetings with three major Canadian shipbuilders, Davie, Seaspan and Irving, and if his company wins the bid, it wants to involve them all in the project, if possible.

The head of the company even went a step further in Kiel, when reporters asked if the subs could be built in Canada.

“The assumption is we build it here, but I mean, the customer is always right, right?” said CEO Oliver Burkhard. “If they want or demand for special, let’s say, reasons to build them in Canada, we would also be able (to arrange) for that.”

TKMS’ main competition, Hanwha, is meanwhile aggressively pitching on the timelines, saying it can deliver four of its KSS-III subs before 2035 — if a contract is inked in 2026. And it says it can deliver another new sub every year after that, meaning all 12 subs could be delivered by 2043.

The German embassy planned a reception Thursday night in Halifax with defence sector representatives on a German Navy Berlin-class joint-support ship visiting the East Coast — hoping to capitalize on momentum from Carney’s recent trip to Berlin.

Four Canadian sailors are on the ship and the embassy describes the visit as a reflection of deepening strategic and defence ties between the two nations. Germany sees signs of renewed momentum in bilateral co-operation at a time when both countries are looking to each other for new opportunities amid global economic turbulence.

“I see huge potential, especially now,” Lüttenberg said. “Of course, it’s too soon to say how the Canadian government will ultimately decide, but it’s very true that German industry, German businesses are looking at Canada with more interest even than in the past. It has to do certainly also with the tariff policy of your southern neighbour, but certainly there’s a lot of interest.”

— With files from Craig Lord

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press