Report to the People
The Skills Challenge
The other week, for the first time in my life, I set foot in the old Yarrow’s yard at Scotstoun. (The closest I’d ever been allowed to get before was a shop stewards’ meeting in the social club.)
Now, of course, part of BAE Systems, the yard was fairly quiet. Looking round at the relatively low level of activity, you would have had no idea that a mass of potential future work could be on its way.
A £50 million investment programme is planned for the yards on the Upper Clyde – much of it linked to the fact that the Royal Navy has decided to build two new aircraft carriers. Amongst the largest warships ever to be built for the Navy, the carriers will carry up to 50 aircraft, will require a crew of 750 and look set to weigh-in at around 50,000 tonnes. This is, I’m told by those who know these things, two-and-a-half times the weight of an Invincible class carrier.
As things stand, two prime potential contractors, BAE Systems and the French company, Thales Naval Systems, are battling it out to win the £2.9 billion contract.
Amongst the countless factors which will be weighed up in the tendering process, one may prove key – skills. From designers to welders and electricians to pipe-fitters, fulfilling this contract will require in excess of 2,500 skilled workers.
We, of course, already have a skilled, flexible, mobile and motivated workforce in Inverclyde. Many of our local shipbuilders already work in the BAE yards in Glasgow and more would join them if BAE won the contract.
And our pioneering work in hooking up the two halves of super-tankers has given us vital experience in the sort of large scale assembly work which would be needed to fit together the massive (and by massive I mean that each will be equivalent to a frigate) sections of the carriers. Indeed, if the BAE Systems bid is successful, the Inchgreen Drydock could be used for this assembly.
But, while we might have a head start, we should not be complacent. We need to make sure we can show, before the contract is awarded next March, that we can meet this skills challenge.
Increasing the chances of bringing this order to the Clyde is just one more reason to continue to improve and develop our skills through lifelong learning. Albeit a more valuable reason than most.
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