Formed in 1882 as Collingwood Dry Dock, Shipbuilding and Foundry Company in Collingwood, Ontario by J. D. Silcox and S. D. Andrews and renamed with the shortened name in 1892, Collingwood Shipbuilding's core business was building lake freighters, ships built to fit the narrow locks between the Great Lakes.
Over the company's lifetime it built over 200 ships. During the Second World War (1940–1944), the company was contracted to build 23 warships for the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Navy, mostly corvettes and minesweepers.
The shipyard was acquired by Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) in 1945. Business slowed in the 1970s and by the 1980s orders were in severe decline. The shipyard closed following the merger of CSL's shipbuilding interest with Upper Lakes Shipping to form Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited in 1986. The last ship completed and launched by the shipyard was CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier for the Canadian Coast Guard. The company folded in 1986.
