North East marine services firm secures further Royal Navy work in £4m maintenance contract
UK Docks will service 38 new, small workboats that come from the Ministry of Defence’s Project Vahana,
Ship repair specialist UK Docks has landed a £4m Royal Navy contract to service and maintain a fleet of workboats.
The South Shields firm, which has multiple yards across the country including on Teesside, in the South East and in Cornwall, will deliver servicing for the Ministry of Defence’s ‘Project Vahana’ small boats programme. 38 new vessels dubbed the ‘Land Rover of the Seas’ because of their versatility and durability were recently bought by the Navy in a £45m programme.
Investment in the Vahana workboats is said to standardise maintenance and spare parts, meaning UK Docks can quickly carry out necessary works. The boats will be used for a range of duties including diving support, training at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, future mine warfare and moving personnel from ship to shore on carrier HMS Prince of Wales.
The last of the boats has now been delivered to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Hydrographic and Meteorological Unit – which specialises in updating charts of UK ports, waterways and harbours. UK Docks will now support the fleet with maintenance operations under a two-year contract.
Family-owned UK Docks, founded by Harry Wilson in 1992, will carry out work at its yards in Gosport in Portsmouth Harbour and Cremyll in Devon. The contract is the latest in UK Docks’ work with the Royal Navy, in addition to maintenance of five Batch 2 Royal Naval vessels globally: HMS’s Medway, Spey, Forth, Trent and Tamar, as well as the navy’s only icebreaker, HMS Protector.
Jonathan Wilson, UK Docks managing director, said: “We are delighted to secure this contract which gives the company the chance to demonstrate its ability to provide the high standards and quality of service the navy demands. Winning important contracts like this does not come easily – a lot of work goes into making them happen and competition is intense because you are up against some of the best companies in the world in this field.
“So I would like to praise the UK Docks team that worked so hard to put together the successful bid to maintain the workboats and look forward to them keeping the vessels performing at their very best.”
Rosy Copping-Bull, project manager for the Navy’s DE&S Boats Team, said: “We are pleased to be growing our relationship with UK Docks to now include the in-service support and capability maintenance of these Vahana Workboats which are an essential part of the Royal Navy’s military operations including diving, surveying and training. The vital work carried out to maintain these vessels will be instrumental in helping our nation prosper now and in the future.”
Source: https://www.business-live.co.uk/manufacturing/north-east-marine-services-firm-29782707
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Source: BusinessLive.co.uk
