A North East marine services company has secured a £250m order from the Royal Navy which will create more than 100 new jobs.
South Shields firm UK Docks currently services HMS Protector, the Royal Navy’s only icebreaker. at its dry docks on the River Tees, and will now service five more vessels over the next eight years. Support for HMS Tamar, HMS Spey, HMS Medway, HMS Trent and HMS Forth will be undertaken by UK Docks until 2031 at its yards in South Shields and Gosport, Hampshire.
UK Docks Marine Services was originally founded by redundant ex-Swan Hunters’ worker Harry Wilson in a single boat repair yard in South Shields in 1995. In 2018 the company won a £150m, 10-year contract with the navy to service several of its smaller vessels, and the new deal worth £250m has been described as a vote of confidence in the company and its workers.
