British Shipbuilders (BS) was a
public corporation that owned and managed the
shipbuilding industry
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to bef ...
in
Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in
Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
History
The corporation was founded as a result of the
Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977, which
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
27 major shipbuilding and marine engineering companies in Great Britain. A further 6 ship repair companies and a further shipyard were also acquired by the corporation, with British Shipbuilders initially comprising 32 shipyards, 6 marine engine works and 6 general engineering plants. Collectively, British Shipbuilders accounted for 97% of the UK's merchant shipbuilding capacity, 100% of its warship-building capacity, 100% of slow speed diesel engine manufacturing and approximately 50% of ship-repair capacity.
Harland & Wolff, the only shipbuilder based in
Northern Ireland was deemed to be a special political case and remained out of the control of the British Shipbuilders' management, despite it also being in state ownership from 1977.
The same act nationalised the three large UK aerospace companies and grouped them in an analogous corporation,
British Aerospace.
Leadership and organisation
The first Chairman of British Shipbuilders, serving from 1977 to 1980, was Admiral Sir
Anthony Griffin. He was succeeded by
Sir Robert Atkinson, who in turn was succeeded by
Graham Day in 1984, Phillip Hares in 1986. The final operational chairman, John Lister, took office in 1987, continuing until 1989.
[Obituary: Admiral Sir Anthony Griffin]
The Independent, 22 October 1996
The company was initially organised into four operating divisions: Merchant, Naval, Ship-repair, Marine Engineering and General Engineering. This was restructured into five trading divisions in 1980: Merchant Shipbuilding, Warship-building, Engineering, Ship-repair and Offshore.
Privatisation
By the end of 1982, British Shipbuilders had closed half of its shipyards in an effort to reduce over-capacity. The terms of the
British Shipbuilders Act 1983 then required the company to begin a process of privatising its remaining assets. The various divisions that had remained under integrated nationalised ownership were divested throughout the 1980s as the company wound up operations. The profitable warship-builders were sold off initially, with the merchant shipyards sold off or closed on a piecemeal basis, culminating in the sale of
Govan Shipbuilders to
Kværner in 1988 and
Ferguson Shipbuilders to the privatised marine engine builder, Clark Kincaid, in January 1989. British Shipbuilders finally ceased active shipbuilding operations in 1989, with the closure of its last shipyards: North East Shipbuilders Ltd.'s Pallion and Southwick Shipyards at
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
. The remaining assets of North East Shipbuilders Ltd. were then privatised.
Abolition
British Shipbuilders continued to exist as a
shell corporation in statute, in order to be accountable for any liabilities incurred during its operational history, until it was abolished in 2013 as part of the Government's
2010 public bodies reforms. From March 2013 any remaining liabilities of British Shipbuilders passed to the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
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, picture = File:Лондан. 2014. Жнівень 26.JPG
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.
Assets subsumed by British Shipbuilders
The assets of the following companies vested in British Shipbuilders on 1 September 1977.
SI 1977/540, art.2
/ref>
Shipbuilders and ship repairers
* Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon (acquired in 1978, merged with Ferguson Shipbuilders in 1981 to form Ferguson-Ailsa)
* Appledore Shipbuilders, Appledore (merged with Harland & Wolff in 2020 to form Harland & Wolff (Appledore))
* Austin & Pickersgill, Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
* Brooke Marine, Lowestoft
Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...
* Cammell Laird Shipbuilders, Birkenhead
* Clelands Shipbuilding Company, Wallsend
* Falmouth Docks Company, Falmouth
* Ferguson Shipbuilders, Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recen ...
(initially a subsidiary of Scott Lithgow, merged with Ailsa in 1981 to form Ferguson-Ailsa, then with Appledore Shipbuilders in 1986 to form Appledore-Ferguson)
* Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Company, Goole
* Govan Shipbuilders, Govan, Glasgow (incorporating Scotstoun Marine Ltd)
* Hall, Russell & Company, Aberdeen
* Harland & Wolff, Belfast
* River Thames Ship Repairers, Blackwall (later renamed Blackwall Engineering)
* Robb Caledon Shipbuilders, (comprising Henry Robb, Leith and Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
)
* Scott Lithgow, Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
(comprising Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company & Lithgows)
* Smiths Dock Company, Middlesbrough
*Sunderland Shipbuilders
William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a British shipbuilding and marine engineering company.
History
William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 1870 it was based in Pallion, Sunderland, on the River We ...
, Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
(incorporating William Doxford & Sons, Pallion)
* Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Limited, Wallsend (later renamed Swan Hunter) - also incorporating John Readhead & Sons, South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...
, Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company
Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company Ltd was formerly an independent company, located on the River Tyne at Point Pleasant, near Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, around a mile downstream from the Swan Hunter shipyard, with which it later merged.
Histor ...
, Wallsend and Grangemouth Dockyard Company
*Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...
, Barrow in Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...
(renamed Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited - VSEL)
* Vosper Thornycroft, Woolston and Portsmouth
* Yarrow Shipbuilders (YSL), Scotstoun
Scotstoun ( gd, Baile an Sgotaich) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde ...
, Glasgow
Marine diesel engine manufacturers
* Barclay Curle and Company, Whiteinch, Glasgow
* George Clark & NEM, Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
* Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Hebburn
* John G. Kincaid & Company, Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
* Scotts’ Engineering Company Limited, Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
Note: Harland and Wolff, Belfast was state-owned but did not form part of British Shipbuilders.
Privatisation
*Scott Lithgow (Offshore Division) - 1981 - individual operating companies dissolved, sold to Trafalgar House in 1984, closed 1993.
*Brooke Marine (Merchant Division) - 1985 - management buyout.[Builders: Brooke Marine Ltd.](_blank)
, National Historic Ships. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
''Hansard'', 2006-11-02,. Retrieved 2011-04-25. Ceased trading in 1992.
*Vosper Thornycroft (Warship Division) - 1985 - management buyout, known as VT Group until 2008, now BAE Systems Surface Ships.
*Yarrow Shipbuilders (Warship Division) - 1985 - sold to GEC-Marconi as Marconi Marine (YSL) then to BAE Systems as part of BAE Systems Marine, now BAE Systems Surface Ships.
*VSEL (Warship Division) - 1986 - employee buyout, with Cammell Laird as a subsidiary. Acquired by GEC-Marconi in 1995 as part of Marconi Marine, then to BAE Systems as part of BAE Systems Marine, now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions.
*Cammell Laird (Warship Division) - 1986 - as a subsidiary of VSEL, finished shipbuilding in 1993, continuing as ship-repair firm in different ownership. Cammell Laird resumed shipbuilding in 2012.
*Ailsa Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1986 - Ailsa split from merged BS subsidiary Ferguson-Ailsa and sold to Perth Corporation as Ailsa Perth Shipbuilders. Ceased shipbuilding in 1988.
*Hall Russell (Warship Division) - 1986 - management buyout, later acquired by A&P Appledore International in 1989, closed 1992.
*Swan Hunter (Warship Division) - 1987 - management buyout, entered receivership 1994, bought by Jaap Kroese. Ceased shipbuilding, 2006.
*Govan Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1988 - sold to Kværner as Kværner Govan, to GEC-Marconi 1999 as part of Marconi Marine then to BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
as part of BAE Systems Marine, now BAE Systems Surface Ships.
*Ferguson Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1989 - demerged from Appledore-Ferguson sold to Clark Kincaid (HLD Group) in 1989.
*Appledore Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1989 - demerged from Appledore-Ferguson and sold to Langham Industries.
*Clark Kincaid (Engineering Division) - 1989 - management buyout (HLD Group), later acquired by Kværner in 1990. Kværner Kincaid sold to Scandiaverken in 1999 and ceased manufacturing in 2000.
References
{{Authority control
Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom
Defence companies of the United Kingdom
Former defence companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct companies based in Tyne and Wear
Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1977
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1989
1977 establishments in England
1989 disestablishments in England
2013 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
British companies disestablished in 1989
British companies established in 1977