Shipyards need firm orders to build up skills and experience

The government has announced a new National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS) to try to drive work at UK shipyards.

 

Prospect has welcomed the strategy as a step forward but pointed out that there didn’t seem to be much new money, and that it falls short of committing to build UK ships in UK shipyards.

Sue Ferns, Senior Deputy General Secretary of Prospect, said

“The UK’s shipyards must provide high skill, good wage jobs right around the UK, so they can play their part in levelling up.

“Our yards are showing that they can deliver – as this updated strategy recognises.

“While the strategy is a helpful stepping stone, what we need now is more firm orders so that industry can commit to a pipeline of work that lasts for the next decade or more, building up skills and experience rather than working on stop-start projects.

“The Government also needs to acknowledge that shipbuilding in the 21st Century is about  “design, fabricate, build and maintain” and not simply bolting together ships designed and constructed abroad. We need to support the whole UK shipbuilding workforce more now than ever before.”