| UK. New era for Naval Shipbuilding & ship support in the North East |
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| Thursday, 15 December 2005 | |
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Shipbuilding news: Naval Shipbuilding and Ship Support in the UK will need to undergo a radical overhaul to ensure it delivers first class equipment for the Royal Navy and remains a viable industry, Secretary of State for Defence John Reid announced today. The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), published by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) today, set outs the need to consolidate the industry to ensure core skills built up over generations are put to best use. Launching the DIS John Reid said: "The North East has a proud tradition of shipbuilding and ship support which has grown up over centuries. I believe the knowledge and experience we have in our yards is second to none and it is essential that we make the very best of it. "That simply isn't happening at the moment because industry is currently fragmented - different companies and facilities undertaking submarine build, surface ship build, and support, even though the skills cross over in some areas. "The MoD is currently engaged in the biggest shipbuilding programme for decades - Type 45s, the Carrier Programme and the Astute submarine will ensure jobs for years to come. But industry faces a lower workload once this peak is past and therefore must make plans for the necessary changes now - so that we can keep the required key skills onshore.' The MOD will build on the momentum generated by the industrial and commercial arrangements being put together on the CVF programme to drive restructuring in the surface ship industry to meet both the CVF peak and the reduced post-CVF demand. John Reid said:. "in the longer term we will require a consolidated industry to sustain the shipbuilding and support 'crown jewels' - particularly the skills needed for design, systems engineering, construction integration and support. This is also a much better arrangement for workers, providing the basis for more security and stability to develop and enhance their skills in long-term structured and secure employment." Cost growth in the submarine area is putting the whole enterprise at risk. With several monopolies on one side and only one customer on the other, a new structure is required. The MOD will immediately start negotiations with the key companies that make up the submarine supply chain to achieve a programme level partnering agreement with a single industrial entity for the full life cycle of the submarine flotilla, while addressing key affordability issues. In surface ship support, competition has helped, but cannot now sustain the industry. We will start a detailed dialogue with industry with the aim of exploring alternative contracting arrangements ahead of the next upkeep periods, which start in the autumn of 2006. For surface ship build, while the industry will be fully loaded with the future aircraft carriers and T45 destroyers for the next 10 years, the steady-state demand will be lower once they are delivered. Once the major reinvestment in new ships, which the Department has overseen, has concluded it will not be affordable to sustain excess industrial capacity in the longer term unless we plan now to avoid a cycle of boom and bust. The searching examination within DIS of just what we need to do onshore has also caused us to modify our policy concerning the fabrication and assembly of new Royal Navy warship hulls. A stable and healthy programme of complex ships will continue to be built in the UK, and will maintain and grow the high-end skills of those who will manage construction and integration of the wider Maritime Force. However the blanket requirement for all warship hulls to be built onshore will no longer be the case. Speaking at the launch the Minister for Defence Procurement Lord Drayson said: "We need to sustain the high-end, value-added, systems engineering skills to manage the integration of complex warships, and their combat systems - this is the critical issue for national security and sovereignty. The security issue is complexity, not warlike or non-warlike. "The time to act is now - to put our policy on a sustainable footing; and to get industry to invest to improve performance and availability.' |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 December 2005 ) |
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