Owner of Birkenhead’s Cammell Laird shipyard says it is ‘ready to deliver’ as the Government says plans for three new floating Royal Navy submarine docks will be built in the UK. Tony McDonough reports
Cammell Laird has the “skills, infrastructure and capacity to compete for a slice of contracts to build three new floating docks for the Royal Navy’s submarine service.
Owner of the Birkenhead shipyard, Balaena, is welcoming Chancellor John Healey’s commitment to a “new age of industrialisation” and is targeting contracts for the floating docks, to be installed at HM Naval Base Clyde, which the Government says will be UK-built.
In June it was announced that Balaena, a Cornwall-based maritime engineering and shipbuilding group, had acquired Cammell Laird’s parent company APCL Group. This also includes two other shipyard and engineering businesses, A&P Tyne and A&P Falmouth.
Following the sale Balaena founder and chief executive Simon Gillett told LBN Cammell Laird was in a strong position to benefit from the increased spending on defence. He added: “Birkenhead has one of the richest shipbuilding and marine engineering traditions anywhere in the world.”
At the Labour Conference in Liverpool the Government made clear that defence spending should strengthen the UK’s sovereign industrial base, create skilled British jobs and apprenticeships, and ensure strategically important capability is retained within Britain.
“By backing British shipyards, we are not only boosting national security but also securing resilience in the industries that will drive growth today while building the capabilities the country needs for the future,” the Chancellor said in Liverpool.
Cammell Laird is already undertaking work on UK defence contracts via its partnership with BAE Systems. In March LBN revealed the yard had reached a major milestone in the Royal Navy Type 26 frigate build programme.
Workers are building sections of the new advanced anti-submarine warfare vessels on behalf of main contractor BAE Systems and have completed the bow for HMS Birmingham.
Balaena says it is “ready to deliver” defence contracts with more than 2,000 skilled people across five strategic locations in Birkenhead, Falmouth, Tyne, Padstow and Gibraltar, 12 dry docks and significant shipbuilding, fabrication, repair and refit capacity.
It is also investing heavily in the next generation of British maritime skills, with 171 apprentices currently training across the group and a long-established record of developing welders, fabricators, engineers, naval architects, electricians and other specialist maritime trades.
Simon Gillett said: “This announcement (by the Chancellor) is exactly the direction British industry has been calling for.
“If we are serious about rebuilding Britain’s industrial strength and strengthening our national security, then we must make full use of the shipyards, people and skills that already exist in this country. Balaena stands ready today.
“We strongly welcome the Government’s commitment to backing British shipyards and buying British wherever our industry can deliver.
“Defence investment should not simply buy equipment; it should create skilled jobs, sustain communities, strengthen supply chains and leave Britain with greater sovereign industrial capability.
“This is an opportunity to rebuild a maritime industrial base that can serve Britain for generations, and Balaena intends to play a major part in delivering it.”