A ROYAL Navy ship has arrived in the North-East to mark the start of work of a £150m contract which will see vessels regularly serviced and repaired in the region over the next decade.
HMS Enterprise made its way to Teesside on Friday as part of the deal which will see work on the Royal Navy ships carried out in Middlesbrough.
Tyneside-based UK Docks, which operates dry docks as well as boatyards and marine service centres around the country, clinched the major deal in October last year with the company maintaining two other ships, HMS Protector and HMS Echo, as well as Enterprise over the next 10 years.
Each of the three vessels is 90 metres long - roughly the length of a football pitch - and because of their important roles need to be available for operational operations for 334 days per ship per year.
Harry Wilson, managing director of UK Docks who watched the ship arrive, said: “This is an extremely proud moment for ourselves, as a family-run firm, and the whole of our workforce.
“We are absolutely thrilled to bring this work to the North East and proud that we have the skill-set, workforce, facilities and financial efficiency needed to ensure essential Royal Navy work can be carried out on our shores.”
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: "This major contract win for UK Docks is great news and will provide a decade’s worth of work for local people.
"The Royal Navy and Ministry of Defence rightly expect the highest quality and standards, and the fact that they have chosen a company with yards in Middlesbrough to carry out the work is testament to highly-skilled workforce available here in the Tees Valley.
"It’s also fantastic to see a Royal Navy ship moored on the River Tees, a sight we better get used to over the coming months and years.”
Since the announcement of UK Docks winning the contract, the company has increased the size of its facilities on Teesside and recruited a specialist team of marine experts to meet the unique needs of the Royal Navy.
Jonathan Wilson, director at UK Docks, said: “We are looking forward to showing what we can do and are ready to take the next step as an ambitious company committed to progress.”
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