Expansion at Portsmouth naval base

The new aircraft carriers are amongst the largest ships ever to join the Royal Navy’s fleet and a major part of the new investment will be dredging work in both the main harbour channel into Portsmouth and in the harbour area itself in order to allow the new carriers to enter and leave harbour at all states of tide. It has been reported that this dredging work will cost in the region of £60 million.

In addition there will be work carried out at the main jetties where the new carriers will moor. This jetty work will include updating the facilities alongside and this will include the provision of improved electrical supply systems and other shore facilities required to allow the ships operate without using their own on-board auxiliary systems.

The dockyard at Portsmouth is operated by the Ministry of Defence working with BAE Systems and it has also been announced that some of the facilities in the dockyard will be made available for use by private companies in order to support jobs and growth in the region. This will include three of the building halls and dry docks in the dockyard. Three companies have been short-listed for this role.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has announced that BAE Systems, Burgess Marine, and Magma Structures are the three companies that have been short listed. This will help Portsmouth keep its maritime and engineering expertise and traditions. Negotiations will be taken forward to determine which company or companies will occupy the facilities.

BAE Systems proposal would see its Maritime Services business use the facility under the recently signed Maritime Support Delivery Framework contract. This would be to improve the maintenance programme of the Royal Navy’s Hunt class mine countermeasures vessels and this would sustain around 200 jobs in Portsmouth and free up capacity elsewhere on the base to develop commercial ship repair work.

The proposal from Burgess Marine would be to use the facilities to construct and outfit luxury yachts. Burgess is a major player in the super yacht sector and they estimate that they could create around 200 jobs in the region.

Magma Structures is a specialist in the design and manufacture of large, complex composite structures. It is currently working in the marine, oil and gas, defence and construction sectors and Magma is looking to re-locate from its current base in Portsmouth to a larger waterside location.

A new manufacturing base located in the dockyard would secure Magma’s workforce of around 180 in the city with the potential for future employment growth.

By Dag Pike