Hope for Swans

Swan Hunter?s Wallsend shipyard on the Tyne river in the UK could yet see the return of shipbuilding work after owner Jaap Kroese said he would be bidding for a contract with a Scandinavian company. If successful, Swan’s would be a sub-contractor to a Dutch company called Centraal Staal, and should know if it was going to happen this autumn.

Just two weeks since the RFA ?Lyme Bay? vessel was towed away from Swan’s yard in an unfinished state after rows over costs with the MoD, Kroese is showing interest in a new shipbuilding contract. He also said that managers from his yard had been hired by Swiss firm Allseas to work on a £200m contract on its Audacia pipe-laying vessel in Rotterdam – a contract which Swan’s had itself tried to win with the hope that it would create 1,500 jobs in the North-East.

There is one to one-and-a-half years’ work on the Audacia, and after that another four years’ work in the yard. While considering the possibility of shipbuilding work, Kroese said he would not inquire about breaking a ship for the Ministry of Defence. The yard owner has already said he will not offer any payment for HMS Intrepid, which has lain decommissioned in Portsmouth Harbour for five years.

The UK?s Disposal Services Agency is aware that Swan’s is currently the only yard in the UK with the licences required to carry out shipbreaking work, but believes others will soon gain the necessary permissions to compete with Swan?s.