Contract hope for oil yard

The work would secure jobs at the yard

An oil yard in the Scottish Highlands could be in line to win a contract to build aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy.

The work, which is worth billions of pounds, could be shared between Nigg in Easter Ross and other British shipyards.

The proposal to build two aircraft carriers, valued at £2.5bn each, has come from the French defence company Thales which is contracting out part of the work won from the Ministry of Defence.

One of its partners is Devonport Management, a company owned by Halliburton, which also owns KBR Caledonia, the operator of the Nigg yard.

Winning the contract would be a tremendous boost to the area and a lot of people would be able to come back and work from home

Rab Wilson
Nigg yard union official

The proposal is to assemble the carrier hulls at Nigg from sections prefabricated at other yards.

The hulls would be fitted out at Devonport and there would also be work for Harland and Wolff in Northern Ireland.

The company is vying for the business along with BAE Systems, which owns two yards on the Clyde.

The Nigg dry dock was upgraded several years ago with £3.5m of public money.

But one of the conditions placed on that grant was that no self-propelled vessels would be built there.

Work went abroad

Finishing the carriers at other yards should ensure compliance with that condition.

At the moment the yard, which as about 150 full-time workers, carries out care and maintenance and only undertakes rig work on the occasional basis.

Jamie Stone, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, used to work at the yard.

He said: "This could be a very big deal. I used to work in the yard and I know we have the skills and we have one of the largest graving docks in Europe."

Mr Stone added that he hoped the contract would lead to diversification in the work carried out at the base.

Rab Wilson, an AEEU official at the Nigg yard for more than 20 years, said: "Over a number of years Nigg tried to get into ship building and ship repair. But unfortunately that work went abroad. Now we are well placed to win that skilled work.

"The yard has one of the biggest graving docks in Europe whereby a ship can be led in, built on and taken out again."

It is hoped new jobs will be created

He added: "Nigg is already renowned for building oil rigs, it has a reputation in that field which has been built over the last 30 years.

"Large parts of ships could be fabricated and then joined together at Nigg. But it is also capable of doing anything which the MoD would require.

"Because of the skills and expertise the men who worked on Nigg are now working all over the world.

"But many are still resident in the area. Whereas in the past they would travel from home directly to work they now travel abroad.

"Winning the contract would be a tremendous boost to the area and a lot of people would be able to come back and work from home."

Mr Wilson said he saw no reason why the workforce could not revert back to its heyday when about 1,200 were employed at the yard.