Federal Fleet is on a campaign to renew the contract to provide for its Asterix to continue to serve the Royal Canadian Navy.

I wrote about this for the Ottawa Citizen on June 8, 2026: Company calling on Canadian government to keep Asterix resupply ship.

The lease for MV Asterix, now known as Combat Support Ship Asterix, ends in January 2028 and Federal Fleet, the firm providing the ship for the Royal Canadian Navy, is pitching Canada on either renewing the arrangement or purchasing the vessel outright.

The Royal Canadian Navy has rejected that proposal. It believes the Joint Support Ships to be delivered in the future will be ready to step in and take the place of Asterix. That remains to be seen considering the years of delays and cost overruns that have plagued the Joint Support Ship project.

Here are a few of my previous Asterix articles so you can look at the background of this ship and some of the history around it:

Stories from 2019

Canadian navy plans to use Asterix supply ship even more next year – vessel to be used 229 days

Military assessment ruling out the need for a second interim supply ship doesn’t appear to exist

Stories from 2018

Asterix refuels Royal Canadian Navy frigate for the first time

Asterix more survivable than her immediate RCN predecessors, says institute

Asterix Vs Joint Support Ship – a few well placed digs

Trudeau says second supply ship not needed

Story from 2017

Here are the details on how Asterix will be crewed by the Royal Canadian Navy