Harland & Wolff has announced that it has been awarded preferred bidder status for the Falkland Islands Port Replacement Project (FIPASS).
The project will involve the construction, transportation and installation of four floating pontoons of circa 90 metres each in length.
The project is expected to generate between £100m and £120m revenue over a two-year period commencing in FY24. The company will use it expansive facilities across the UK to provide optionality and de-risk the fabrication of these pontoons.
John Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Harland & Wolff said:
“Following a competitive bid process, I am delighted that the Falkland Islands Government has selected Harland & Wolff as “preferred bidder” for this project. The Company enjoys an excellent relationship and a rich heritage with the Falkland Islands given that Harland and Wolff built the six linked barges which make up the existing port facility forty-five years ago. I look forward to working closely with the Falkland Islands Government and bringing this contract to fruition.”
Fabulous news , maybe some of the barge work will go to the fabrication docks at Methil in Fife .
Or Arnish, Appledore or Belfast, H&W have many choices but not much work at present. They may decide to spread the sectional steel work around and assemble at Belfast, which would help in the uplift in capacity they need for the FSS contract.
To be honest I don’t understand why they have bought so many smallish yards. I wonder if it for subsidies or lower wage costs.
Nearly everything is built in blocks now so can build multiple blocks at smaller yards then just carry out final assembly in Belfast, it should in theory speed up the build
Yes, being able to co-ordinate and build at the same time in different Yards does actually make sense…. I makes assembly quicker.
I wonder if it’s because they think smaller orders with small yards might get them more buisness? There was substantial talk pre 22 about the UK building attack craft for Ukraine.
Got to wonder if it would be cheaper to get an African or South American yard to make these?
I wonder what makes them go with the U.K. yard? No complaints from me.
What is going to happen with the existing port infrastructure?
Very, very cool.
The forward deployment of the River Class Batch 2’s is proving a huge success. Just a tad too small for crew comfort and need a UAV capability adding, but other than that hard to fault as a poor man’s stop-gap for a frigate on peace-time taskings.
Meanwhile the silence on the replacement of the three B1’s is deafening! They were designed and built for a max of 25 years service, and their out of service date is 2028. Replacements thus need to be ordered ASAP, but presumably the MOD just doesn’t have the money.
Initial preparations for South Atlantic/southern ocean oil/gas/mineral exploration?