Shipbuilders tie a £4bn knot
A deal uniting Britain’s two remaining naval shipbuilders will proceed at full steam ahead thanks to the Government’s £4billion aircraft carrier deal announced yesterday.
BAE Systems is to merge its warship division with VT Group’s shipbuilding and naval support arms. It will create Britain’s sole naval shipbuilder, employing about 7,000 people with a turnover of around £800million.
BVT Surface Fleet will help construct and eventually support the two new 65,000-tonne carriers at the group’s yards in Portsmouth and Glasgow. In all, with work for other firms included, the carrier deal is expected to safeguard about 10,000 jobs in Britain’s shipyards.
The joint venture, owned 55 per cent by BAE with the rest belonging to VT Group, will try to secure work from around the world.
BAE and Southampton-based VT already work together on Ministry of Defence contracts, with VT building the bow and mast sections for the Royal Navy’s Type 45 Destroyer programme at Portsmouth and the rest of the work and assembly being done by BAE at Glasgow.