Scottish shipyards gear up for warship building boom

In recent years, Scotland has emerged as a hub for military shipbuilding in the United Kingdom.

Between 2015 and 2035, Scottish shipyards are expected to construct 24 warships, with several already built and some in service.

As per the plans, Scottish shipyards will build five Offshore Patrol Vessels, eight Type 26 Frigates, five Type 31 Frigates, five Type 32 Frigates, and one Ukrainian warship.

Ukraine signed a memorandum with the UK securing £1.25 billion in funding to build new military vessels for the Ukrainian Navy. The first ship will be built in the UK, and the subsequent seven vessels will be constructed in Ukraine.

In addition to Type 26 and Type 31 Frigates, the Type 32 Frigate is slated to augment the escort fleet to 24 vessels from its current 19. The Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, had initially confirmed that the Rosyth shipyard would be building more vessels than initially planned. Specifically, he stated:

“We are committed to building the Type 26 in the United Kingdom; it is under construction on the Clyde. In Rosyth, work is ongoing to build the facility needed to build the Type 31s and the subsequent Type 32s. He also knows that I recently recategorized the future Fleet Solid Support ship as a warship. I intend to make sure that, if not entirely, there is a considerable degree of UK build in that process, subject to tender. I have to be cautious about the contract, because the competition is to begin soon—very soon.”

However, this statement was later retracted, and it was clarified that the work could be assigned to either the Clyde or Rosyth shipyards.

Despite earlier rumours that the class is set to be cancelled, the UK Government have insisted that new frigates, whatever form they take in terms of procurement, will be built. The UK Government have committed to new Type 32 frigates, be it as a new design or a second batch of already-in-build Type 31 Frigates.

Government confirm Type 32 Frigate not cancelled

Benefits of Distributed Approach

The National Shipbuilding Strategy has resulted in a shift away from reliance on a single supplier, BAE at Govan, to a more distributed approach. This has allowed a second shipyard in Scotland, Babcock at Rosyth, to enter the military shipbuilding business. This change is expected to lead to significant growth in the sector.

Moreover, the ‘case by case’ procurement approach has aided in avoiding the ‘feast and famine’ scenario that was prevalent in the past, where large orders were followed by periods of layoffs and uncertainty.

The new approach has also opened doors for export orders, especially for the Type 26 Frigate. These export orders greatly benefit the supply chain in Scotland, as overseas orders allow the industry to supply components for a significantly larger number of ships than domestic orders alone.

Trade unions and industry experts have emphasised the importance of continued investment. Gary Cook, GMB Scotland Organiser and CSEU Scotland Chair pointed out:

“This is a generational opportunity for the Scottish economy and particularly for the communities that are synonymous with shipbuilding. The industry needs the full support of both the UK and Scottish governments. Investment in infrastructure, skills, and innovation is key to ensuring that Scotland remains at the forefront of global shipbuilding.”

Moreover, focusing on environmentally sustainable practices in shipbuilding can also contribute to Scotland’s position as a leader in this field. Andrew McLaughlin, Director of Clyde Marine Planning Partnership, had this to say:

“As we build ships that protect our nation, it’s equally important that we consider the environmental impact. Sustainable practices in shipbuilding not only benefit our ecosystem but also position Scotland as a leader in green shipbuilding technologies.”

To what extent does Scotland benefit from exporting military ships and/or their design?

While, for example, the Type 26 Frigate based vessels ordered by Australia and Canada will not be built on the Clyde it is important to remember that there is still a benefit not only in reduced unit costs in the longer term but there is also a benefit to companies around Scotland and the wider UK making components for these vessels. Export success is also important to the Ministry of Defence; competitive companies, winning export work, enable overheads to be spread, reducing the unit cost to the Department.

In short, I’m getting at the idea that a company only building eight components for the British Type 26 fleet could now be building up to thirty-two components for the British, Canadian and Australian fleets. Export orders benefit the supply chain here in Scotland immensely.

The exports have turned the Type 26 Frigate from an eight-ship class to, essentially, a thirty-two ship class.

While it is fair to say that there will be significant local supply chain involvement in Canada and Australia, it should be noted that the businesses based in Scotland will have the advantage of retaining intellectual property and the fully trained people, putting them in prime position to compete for the work, even overseas. In addition, the export of ships and their components is beneficial for the cost related to maintenance and supply lines when it comes to operating the finished vessels.

What I mean by that is that the increased number of units, be they ships or components of ships, in service with navies worldwide makes it far more economical for the company building the components to retain repair and refurbishment facilities for those components here in Scotland, sustaining jobs and sustaining the ability of naval forces to cost effectively repair or replace those components should the need arise.

What more could the UK Government do to maintain and foster military shipbuilding in Scotland?

As things stand, the UK Government is, by far, the primary customer for the shipbuilding industry in Scotland. The entire future surface fleet of frigates and destroyers are, it’s expected, to be built in Scottish shipyards. Outside of procurement, however, there are, I believe, areas in which the UK Government could invest to encourage growth in the industry.

When writing this submission, I stated that I believed that investment allowing for a fully covered build hall (such as the one built in Rosyth) would encourage a faster and, therefore, cheaper procurement of larger warships. Well, that happened. BAE’s Govan shipyard is expanding. The facility will allow huge Type 26 frigates to be built entirely indoors – partly thanks to public funding.

BAE hopes to construct the next batch of five Type 26 frigates, bringing the total built up to eight inside the purpose-built facility. As things stand today, the first three ships are being built inside a much smaller shipbuilding hall in sections before being moved outside and welded together. It works, but it’s not very efficient and exposes the insides of complex vessels to the elements.

As mentioned above, this effort to enhance the capacity of the yard will proceed with some public funding. At a recent meeting of the Defence Committee, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace revealed that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is investing in the BAE shipyard to increase its capacity and productivity for future work. Wallace told the committee, “I am delighted that BAE is going to put a covered build hall in place. We will be contributing to it as the MoD and the customer, but that is the sort of thing that is about the cultural shift and investing in the yard so that when, whatever happens, one day – there is not a naval contract, or it wins another contract to build a civil ship – it can show that productivity”.

In Rosyth, Babcock has completed the ‘Venturer building’, a large, covered build hall which will house two frigates for uninterrupted, parallel assembly and, say Babcock, “support increased productivity gains through improved access to the platforms and digital connectivity”.

The Rosyth facility contains modern manufacturing facilities and new digital systems, as well as gantry access to remove the need for scaffolding. Glasgow will soon have that luxury too.

Progress picks up on new Glasgow frigate factory