Celtic Power & Machining is a family business with an unusual and interesting history. We have come a long way from our beginnings in Pembrokeshire, Wales. In the early 1980's Brian & Eileen decided to take the leap and start their own business. Brian left behind a well-paid comfortable career at the Texaco oil refinery which at the time was one of the major employers in the area. Brian and Eileen established the new business named Haven Maritime Inc. located in a dilapidated and run-down dry dock in Pembroke Dock, Wales. 

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Haven Maritime grew rapidly to offer many services and undertook several unusual projects. The shipyard offered all types of service to marine vessels whether it was  propulsion engine overhauls, hull repairs or maintenance of ancillary equipment. Haven also operated a fleet of coastal tugs that were involved in a variety of towing operations. 

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On top of the day-to-day marine services Haven also undertook special projects. The "Picton Sea Eagle" shown to the left was a replica 14th century Galleon built upon the hull of a scrapped fishing trawler. The ship was an accurate replica with a genuine sailing rig and cannons. It was built as a floating restaurant and remains in service today.

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The "JADI" was another special project that was built at Haven. Constructed within the hull of a 1930's Dutch barge. The result was a luxury floating home that still resides on the river Thames in London, UK. It still commands a high resale price due to its high quality teak  finishes and spacious interior.

 

Haven continued to grow to a peak of over 50 employees. While the business was successful, the drag of British bureaucracy and over bearing regulations made it increasingly difficult to continue to operate. In 1992 Brian and his brother-in-law Mike were sat in a pub and happened to meet a Canadian realtor who was in Wales selling the idea of Canadian farming to Welsh farmers. This was the seed that started the next chapter of our history.

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We emigrated to Canada in 1993 to start a new life and try farming. It only took three years to discover we were not well suited to farming. In 1996 Brian and Eileen re-established the "Haven" name as "Haven Trading Canada Inc.". A new company that was involved with the relocation of land-based power generation equipment. Brian continued with this endeavor until his retirement. This covered many major projects including installing new power generation for the Island of Bermuda and relocating a diesel power plant from N.W Australia to Mexico where he oversaw its reconstitution as a floating power station.

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His last major project involved the failure investigation of a 54MW power plant  engine on the Island of Guam. The engine had "run away" under load which resulted in catastrophic failure (image left). 

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In the late 90's Gavin joined the family business in a parallel endeavor to set up a machine shop and industrial service. Celtic Power & Machining was founded as a division of Haven Trading Canada. The shop started small in the original farm shop at the home yard. Celtic has steadily grown eventually constructing a purpose-built facility to expand operations near Rapid City, Manitoba. Celtic  has incrementally increased our capabilities. It now provides maintenance for local plants, manufactures components, and undertakes larger projects such as moving machinery, relocating power generation equipment and designing process equipment improvements for reliability and throughput.

 

We continue to evolve and look for new opportunities. This website shows the range and depth of projects undertaken by Celtic. Having grown up in a shipyard, mechanical knowledge is truly in Gavin's blood. He has been lucky enough to travel working with Brian in far flung locations in North and South America. He has worked on some of the coldest and hottest places on earth in some tough conditions. His experiences created a unique range of knowledge with a large variety of machinery. 

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Gavin obtained his Private Pilots License in 2016 which opened further opportunities in remote locations. There are many industries and settlements in Canada's North though they are in far flung and remote locations. With the current short supply of skilled tradesmen, we are seeing increased demand for assistance and guidance in remote locations. Gavin's hope is that Celtic can continue to grow and provide solutions drawing on the years of hard-earned experience.