Wednesday, November 06, 2013

BAe Systems to End 500 Year Tradition of Ship Building, Close Portsmouth Ship Yard

British defense contractor BAE Systems (BAES.L) said it would start a consultation process to lay off 1,775 ship workers across the UK and would stop all shipbuilding at Portsmouth on the south coast of England next year.

The decision, which marks the end of over 500 years of shipbuilding in Portsmouth, will also see BAE consolidate its shipbuilding operations in Glasgow, where it has two sites in Govan and Scotstoun.

The cuts will affect 940 workers in Portsmouth in 2014, as well as 835 at Filton, in south west England, and Glasgow and Rosyth in Scotland through to 2016, BAE said.

“Following detailed discussions about how best to sustain the long-term capability to deliver complex warships, BAE Systems has agreed with the UK Ministry of Defence that Glasgow would be the most effective location for the manufacture of the future Type 26 ships,” it said on Wednesday.

“Under these proposals, shipbuilding operations at Portsmouth will cease in the second half of 2014,” it said.

The cost of the restructuring would be borne by the MOD, it said.

link.

Obviously, BAe isn't worried about Scottish independence. 

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