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thomas davison

Navy buys Korean to keep its ships fuelled: �452m contract for four tankers goes to the Far EastBy Ian Drury

Last updated at 12:52 AM on 23rd February 2012

Defence Minister Peter Luff announced yesterday that a �452million contract for the support tankers had been awarded to Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.
Critics said the decision was a blow to Britain�s declining shipbuilding industry and to the proud naval tradition of what was once the world�s greatest seafaring nation.
They also accused the Government of �shameless hypocrisy� after David Cameron criticised India earlier this month for snubbing British industry when it awarded a �13billion deal to supply 126 fighter jets to France.
Made in Korea: How the new tanker will look. Several British companies expressed an interest in building the tankers but none submitted a final bid
At the time, sources said India had chosen �cheap and cheerful� warplanes over quality British-built Eurofighter Typhoons.
The tankers that are being bought �off-the-shelf� from South Korea will maintain the Navy�s ability to refuel warships at sea and will provide support for amphibious and land forces close to shore.
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Labour defence spokesman Jim Murphy said: �This is more bad news for British industry.
�First we lose out to France over fast jets and now we lose out to South Korea over Royal Navy tankers. The country wants the Government to do more to support British industry. I�d like to see more of our defence industry with a �Made in Britain� stamp on it.�
Shipbuilding unions said the decision to buy vessels from the Far East �beggared belief� and put at risk UK jobs and skills.
Defence Minister Peter Luff announced the �452million contract yesterday
Gary Cook, a senior officer with the GMB trade union, said: �This is disappointing and depressing. Taxpayers� money is being exported as well as potentially jobs.
�These ships are an integral and vital part of the Royal Navy. It is not going to help us retain skills and innovation within the industry by taking work overseas.
�There appears to be shameless hypocrisy. We complain that India won�t buy our warplanes, but then we send out the signal that we�re not willing to buy our own ships. For an island nation, that is extraordinary.�
The four Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (Mars) tankers, from which helicopters will be able to operate, are due to enter service from 2016. They will replace single-hulled Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, which were built in the 1960s.
The new 37,000-ton vessels are 650ft long � equivalent to 14 double-decker buses � and can pump enough fuel to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools each hour.
The Ministry of Defence said several British companies expressed an interest in building the tankers but none submitted a final bid for the contract.
A source close to the defence minister initially said there was no capacity to build the tankers in UK dockyards � a claim denied by shipbuilding firms. He also said there was �no proven track record� of building tankers in the UK.
But a defence industry insider said: �The MoD made it clear they wanted a commercial tanker and from day one it was as plain as the nose on your face that no UK company could compete against the low labour costs.�
Mr Luff said British firms would benefit from �150million of associated contracts including providing navigation systems and equipment for the tankers.
He said the deal �demonstrated the best value for money� for the taxpayer and that �complex� warships would still be built in Britain.
Huge cuts to the defence budget as part of the Coalition�s Strategic Defence and Security Review means that Britain�s shipbuilding businesses have blank order books after work on aircraft carriers, destroyers and Type 26 frigates is completed.
Last month the Mail told how BAE Systems was considering closing the naval dockyard in Portsmouth as part of a review of its warship business, bringing to an end 800 years of shipbuilding

This government is run by people who have never had a job in the real world, there are not even good enough to call dummies..

Money out of our economy! Money that could be circulating in our economy keeping a skills base alive,real jobs - not chips with that apprenticeships. More skilled men and women without work. One department of government says look I got these cheap for the taxpayer. failing to grasp that the taxpayer will pick up the bill in several other departments. Sick of these sponging halfwits that we call politicians.