donald_of_tokyo wrote:Yes I am serious. I understand your point. But, NAB-san comment is totally incorrect? I do not think so.
It depends on whether you are talking about the infrastructure in place today or the infrastructure that could be built if a large £1bn order went a consortium's way. In general terms it is true that a lot of UK yards have diversified over the past 20 to 30 years and this has led to a reduction in ship building capacity and efficiency. That is true.
In effect with a £1bn order on the books the yard(s) would have to diversify again - but this time
back to ship building from what has been sustaining many of the aforementioned yards, namely contracts from the oil&gas and wind energy sectors.
The current conundrum for British yards is that without orders on the books the investment required to upgrade the yards back up to a standard high enough to enable them to get properly back into the shipbuilding game cannot be warranted. Orders must be placed to secure the necessary investment. Classical chicken and egg....
Lots of yards have been mentioned but the most important one that has been left out of the discussion so far is Barrow. Just look at what guaranteed investment from HMG has done for this yard and the surrounding community. It's not perfect but it does show what can be done in a relatively short space of time, with the correct support, even when a lot of the skill and expertise has been lost albeit temporarily.
I agree that all of the yards cannot be supported and some probably aren't viable as purely ship building enterprises but allowing yard after yard go to the wall only a couple of years after unveiling the much trumpeted National Shipbuilding Strategy would be farcical. HMG could solve this issue tomorrow morning if it so desired but the political will currently isn't there.
I believe the UK needs a four yard strategy for constructing ships for the RN/RFA and Rosyth isn't one of them. That doesn't mean that Rosyth shouldn't have a future, it should, but not in its current role in my opinion.
This would be my approach,
1. Submarine centre of excellence at Barrow.
2. State of the art Frigate Factory at Scotstoun building all RN escorts.
3. Combined commercial enterprise between Cammell Laird and H&W to build all Auxiliary/Logistic/Amphibious vessels.
4. OPV, MHPC and Corvette centre of excellence at Appledore.
This approach spreads the work share more evenly across the UK resulting in following benefits,
1. The frigate factory at Scotstoun would be able to produce more frigates faster, lowering build costs and resulting in more escorts hitting the water.
2. The commercial enterprise between CL and H&W would enable both yards to support each other and float blocks across the Irish Sea as required. The combined output of these yards would be able to easily cope with the future build schedule of RFA and RN vessels. Industrial action at either yard would also have less of an impact using this combined build approach.
3. Appledore could build a business model around a drumbeat of OPV, MHPC and Corvette orders enabling these smaller RN vessels to be built in the most cost effective and efficient manner possible.
Rosyth would lose out but only in terms of actual shipbuilding. I would adapt Rosyth's role to act as the primary location for RN's non frigate/destroyer maintenance and refit work including the QE's. Rosyth could bid for the RFA maintenance and refit contracts along with other UK yards.
I think this is the pragmatic approach and would secure the future of UK shipbuilding for the foreseeable future. The work would be spread across the UK and in doing so help to secure the Union. Yes it would require substantial investment but so does HS2, CrossRail, Foreign Aid etc etc.
I don't have a problem opening up the bidding process for RFA vessels to international bids in an effort to encourage competition but it must be a level playing field. HMG must factor in recouped tax and lower welfare costs as well placing a value on supporting solid skilled careers in what are, In many instances fairly deprived areas of the UK.
Let's see if the National Shipbuilding Strategy is worth the paper it's written on.