Faslane dry docks and research ship to be built in UK, says chancellor

Orders for three floating dry docks, worth £6bn, to maintain the Royal Navy's nuclear-powered submarine fleet at Faslane will go to a UK-based shipbuilder, the chancellor has confirmed.

John Healey told the Labour conference the facilities were vital to national security and would support domestic shipbuilding as part of a "new age of industrialisation".

A UK-only bidding competition will decide who builds the floating docks but Navantia UK, which owns sites in Fife and Belfast, is seen as a frontrunner.

Healey has also pledged £115m for construction in the UK of a new marine research vessel to replace Cefas Endeavour, built by the Ferguson shipyard on the Clyde more than 20 years ago.

He told delegates in Liverpool: "I want to confirm today that we, this government will commit to £6bn of contracts for our British shipyards.

"They'll build the new docks for the submarines that will defend us all for decades to come, built in Britain by British workers because of the decisions of this Labour government."

The investment is part of a wider £15bn upgrade of the Faslane site, on the eastern side of Gare Loch, over the coming decade.

Floating dry docks are structures that can be submerged to allow a ship or submarine to enter. They are then raised and emptied of water, enabling inspections, maintenance and repair.

Unlike their land-based equivalents, their ability to float means they can be towed to different locations.

The last floating dry dock to be manufactured in the UK is believed to be Admiralty Dock 60, built in the 1960s and based at HMNB Clyde at Faslane until the late 1990s when it was sold for commercial use.

Currently the base has to rely on a single shiplift, an elevator-type device which hoists submarines out of the water inside a large maintenance building.

The Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia has been lobbying hard to build the new floating docks for Faslane, through its UK division.

The company owns the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, along with fabrication sites at Arnish on the Isle of Lewis, Methil in Fife and Appledore in Devon.

The GMB union has previously written to Healey asking for the work to be shared between the Methil site and Belfast.

Other possible contenders include the Cammell Laird shipyard in Merseyside, now owned by Balaena, and Babcock which has facilities at Rosyth.

Healey has also confirmed funding for a ship to replace Cefas Endeavour, the UK government's main fisheries and marine science research ship.

Operated by the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) the ship is based at Lowestoft in Suffolk.

Cefas Endeavour was launched in 2002 by the now nationalised Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow on the Clyde, and entered service the following year.

The firm could potentially bid to build the replacement as its size - expected to be up to 85m (279ft) - is well-suited to the yard's capabilities.

But Ferguson's is likely to face competition from other commercial yards such as Navantia and Cammell Laird.

Cefas Endeavour was a technically challenging ship, with exacting specifications for noise and vibration so that it would not disturb fish during survey work.

Still in active service after 20 years, its replacement is expected to be delivered in the early 2030s.

Healey also used his speech to announce that Rolls-Royce will invest an extra £300m into its British factories in Derby, in Bristol, in Glasgow and in Rotherham.