There are two large shipyards within NW England BAE Systems Submarine Solutions at Barrow in Furness, Cumbria and Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, Merseyside.
They have national and international supply chains. BAE Systems Submarine Solutions owns Barrow shipyard. Its core business is nuclear submarines and it is the north west of England's largest operational shipyard covering 169 acres.
Cammell Laird at Birkenhead delivers RFA ship and comercial ship repair.
Shipbuilding is an important jobs multiplier, with research suggesting the multiplier effect is between 1:1:17 to 1.96 – this means that for every shipbuilding job two other jobs are created.
Employment in naval shipbuilding at Barrow-in-Furness totals 5,100 people.
22% of BAE SYSTEMS top suppliers are based in north west England, more than in any other region. Between 2004 and 2009, Barrow's supply chain spend across the UK totalled £361m.
The supply chain benefits of the submarine programme operating out of Barrow extends to almost every postcode area of the UK. There is much potential for more companies to be involved in the supply chain.
COMPANIES IN BARROW
BAE SYSTEMS
The Barrow shipyard has a long standing track record of design and construction of naval surface ships and submarines, it employs over 5,100 people at its 169 acre site. Barrow has facilities to build large warships and submarines.
480 people are employed by BAE Land Systems in Barrow manufacturing naval guns and other armament products on an adjacent site in the town and more are employed in Customer Solutions and Support.
For a fuller description of the capacity and capability of the naval shipbuilding resources at Barrow in Furness, go to www.baesystems.com
James Fisher & Sons plc
James Fisher & Sons plc are the UK’s leading provider of marine services, operating in 3 areas:-tank ships , cable laying vessels and marine support services to customers such as Ministry of Defence, oil and gas firms.
James Fisher & Sons plc have a 25% part share of a 20 year PFI shareholding to provide the MoD with a Military Strategic Sealift Capability through AWSR Shipping.
James Fisher MIMIC Limited, supply maintenance and related asset management services to the Royal Navy – offering condition based maintenance systems which are installed in the majority of Royal Navy warships.
COMPANIES ON MERSEYSIDE
The other north west shipyards are to be found on Merseyside, at Cammell-Laird, A & P Birkenhead Limited, McTay Marine Limited, and Northwestern Shiprepairers Limited.
Cammell-Laird
Based on the Mersey, a river with proud maritime traditions, the company has built up an enviable reputation, for first class workmanship, impeccable safety standards and exemplary industrial relations.
Our business specialisation is in the commercial repair/upgrade, conversion, heavy fabrication/engineering and military refit marketplace.
Our ‘core’ workforce is on average between 275-300 men and 40+ administration and project personnel, which is regularly augmented by a further local skilled labour pool of over 200 men.
Specialist subcontractors regularly on site usually account for a further 100-150 tradesman. This gives a total of over 600 skilled shipyard tradesmen available locally. This can be further augmented by national subcontractors and labour agencies
We offer the full array of shipyard skills and services, making us a one stop solution for all your marine services.
We operate a unique mix of facilities which allow us to cater for any type of project from the largest refit or conversion to the shortest-duration docking of a small coastal vessel.
Our Merseyside yards include four dry-docks ranging from 125m x 21m to 289m x 42.7m. These dry-docks are supported by well equipped and substantial work-shops, storage areas and office infrastructure.
We are a marine service company offering the following services:
- Ship-building
- Ship-repair
- Ship-conversion
- Ship-refit
- Ship-outfitting
- Heavy Fabrication
- Specialist Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Marine Coatings and Blasting
- Thermal Insulation & Sheet Metal Work
Conversion
We specialise in complex Conversion & Upgrade projects. Our comprehensive range of facilities and experienced management and workforce can deliver your project from concept to completion.
Resurgent Birkenhead shipyard Cammell Laird has today, Monday March 2, been named a preferred bidder for a huge multi million pound contract to build the flight decks on two new aircraft carriers for the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD).
The announcement is being made by Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) which is responsible for delivering the Queen Elizabeth class ships to time and cost. The ACA has adjusted its plans for the manufacture of the 65,000 tonne ships in order to meet the MOD’s budget requirements. The adjustment is in keeping with the outcome of the MOD’s Equipment Examination of late 2008 and the decision to re-schedule delivery of the two carriers.
As part of the ACA’s announcement it is awarding Cammell Laird and Tyneside based shipyard A & P ‘preferred bidder status’ to construct the large central blocks, or flights decks, of the carriers worth £150m.
Cammell Laird chief executive John Syvret said the announcement is a tremendous boost for the yard and it would now enter commercial discussions to finalise the deal.
“This shipyard has an immensely proud history of building Royal Navy aircraft carriers including two Ark Royals,” he said. “Being awarded preferred bidder status is a major endorsement of the skills and expertise we have worked so hard to rebuild here over the last eight years. If we do win this contract it will safeguard and generate jobs for local people and work for local businesses.”
Mr Syvret said it plans to use its giant shipbuilding hall, which is the biggest of its kind in Europe, to work on the aircraft carrier projects.
The aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy, nearly three times the size of the current Invincible-class carriers.
Cammell Laird’s current workload is split around 50-50 between MOD and commercial sector work. The yard is actively seeking to grow the business in the international commercial market targeting North America, Scandinavia and the Gulf of Mexico for ship conversion, refit and repair work.
McTay design and build vessels in steel and aluminium up to 60m in length including tugs, ferries, barges, pilot boats, survey vessels, coasters and fishing vessels, fast patrol boats, landing craft and towed array recovery vessels. 150 people are employed at McTay, which has an 80m build hall with 25 tonne cranes, and 100m fit-out quay.
A & P Birkenhead Limited
Southampton based A & P bought Cammell Laird’s Birkenhead shipyard in August 2001. The yard specializes in ship repair. The yard at Birkenhead is one of only two A & P facilities on the UK’s west coast, the other being at Falmouth.
Northwestern Shiprepairers Limited
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