MoD contract secures future for thousands

Jul 4 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

THE signing of contracts to build two new aircraft carriers has secured more than 1,000 jobs in the North East and Cumbria with the hope of hundreds of millions of pounds’ more work to follow.

Manufacturer BAE Barrow, which has won a substantial part of the £3.9bn contract to build the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, has selected the Tyne Carrier Association (TCA) to supply over 40 hull units worth around £200m.

The TCA say their proportion of the work will guarantee employment for around 400 staff on the Tyne with scores of North East workers being seconded to work in Barrow, as The Journal revealed earlier this year.

But the TCA is hoping to secure further work on the ships – work which is still up for tender – and it is now finalising its bid. Dave Skentelbery, managing director of A&P Tyne, which is a member of the TCA, along with McNulty, of Jarrow, said: “This is very good news for the region and for the Tyne. It’s a huge block of work.”

If the TCA is successful in its bid to secure further work on the hulls of the carriers the two tranches of work will keep around 400 people in jobs for around four years. The units built by TCA will be floated on barges to Barrow for assembly in BAE Barrow’s Central Assembly Shop.

Once completed each section of the carrier hull will be transported by sea to Rosyth. Mr Skentelbery said yesterday’s announcement will allow it to begin an apprenticeship recruitment programme, for the first time in many years.

The Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales are scheduled to enter service in 2014 and 2016 and they will be the largest ships ever operated by the Royal Navy. Each vessel will be around 280m long and 70m wide on the flight deck and will accommodate around 1,500 personnel operating a mix of up to 40 helicopters and jet aircraft.

The MoD said building the carriers would create or sustain 1,200 jobs in Portsmouth, more than 3,000 jobs on the Clyde, 1,600 jobs in Rosyth, 400 jobs in Barrow, 145 jobs in Frimley in Surrey and 250 jobs in Bristol and Crawley.

The ships will be built by a group of companies known as the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, with much of the work carried out by BVT Surface Fleet, a newly-formed consortium of BAE Systems and VT Group.

Corus on Teesside has won part of a £70m contract to provide steel to construct the huge vessels. Earlier this week A&P Tyne secured a five-year £50m contract with the Royal Navy to maintain five Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels.