By sea, air and land, ship parts from far-flung corners of the globe make their way to a growing repair shop in the north end of Welland.
The team at Walter Hiltebrand Marine Services handles and repairs ship components far beyond the Welland Canal, just a stone’s throw away. Parts come their way from as far off as Dubai, Singapore and Guam, from ships old and new– and each one brings a unique challenge for the staff who must keep them running in peak condition.
“We look after ships from the late ‘60s. They’re older than I am. I’m very proud to do that,” says owner Oliver Hiltebrand. They work on newer ships too, including unique and specialized deep-sea cable layers designed to install communications lines underwater and across vast ocean distances. They handle components from engines that can be as large as a four-storey building.
The parts they work with are unique, each one showing different signs of wear and tear after prolonged marine service. For older ships, the parts may be long out of production. The Walter Hiltebrand team must assess each component individually, make repairs specific to that part and then specially package them for safe transport back to its ship.
“We have to be very creative,” Hiltebrand said. “We do a large variety of work. It’s all the same type of thing, but it’s not the same thing everyday.”
Hiltebrand, educated at Niagara College in Welland, is a second-generation maintainer of ship parts. The business bears the name of his father Walter, who came to Niagara from Switzerland in 1979 and started the business out of the family kitchen in Fonthill back in 1989.
The business has grown with time. Since opening an in-house workshop a decade ago, Walter Hiltebrand has nearly doubled its workforce, from six to ten full-time team members plus help brought in for the busier winter layup season.
It’s a growth kickstarted by proximity to the Welland Canal. Oliver said it’s easy to service local clients because it’s a short trip between ships loading at the ends of the Canal and the company’s workshop.
“Being near the Canal is always beneficial to service to our local clients,” he said.
“This is why my father originally moved here – to be near the Canal.”
Today, the workshop bustles with activity as the team works on repairing the enormous parts from ships and power stations. Some of the Walter Hiltebrand team have backgrounds working on ships themselves. Others come from sectors like automotive, bringing a broad range of experience to the business.
As for Walter, Oliver says his dad still visits the shop that bears his name, often stopping by around lunchtime.
“There’s a lot of pride for him. He started it from nothing, really,” hesaid.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s challenging, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s all I’ve ever done.”
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