David Tydeman, CEO of Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow, expressed his hope to secure substantial work from the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Frigate programme, potentially utilising over half the yard’s capacity.
Despite the uncertainties surrounding the future of the shipyard, Tydeman was confident about Royal Navy work supporting the yard during a recent Public Audit Committee meeting.
“We have been planning for some time,” he said, “and I am delighted that we were able to sign a framework agreement with BAE Systems.”
According to Tydeman, the agreement with BAE Systems would help address the workforce surplus at the Ferguson Marine yard as work on two ferries progressively winds down over the next 12 to 18 months.
He further added, “Both those yards (BAE and Babcock) have more work than they can do on their sites—as I said, this is a buoyant time in the shipbuilding market—and they need supporting contractors.”
In terms of scale, Tydeman compared the potential work from the Type 26 programme to ongoing projects at Ferguson. “Hull 802 will be about 3,000 tonnes of weight when she launches down the slipway later this year, and a bow block unit for type 26 ship 4—which we hope to do with BAE—will be about 900 tonnes,” he stated.
Elaborating on this, he said “A programme of work with BAE can use more than half the capacity of the yard, and I hope that we can complement that with the CMAL small ferry programme.”
Additionally, he mentioned that the company is actively tracking opportunities in the market. “We have a small commercial team that is tracking the market and we have been putting in proposals to the patrol craft market,” Tydeman disclosed.
There are also ongoing discussions with operators in the wind farm market, providing potential long-term work. “The first of those ships could be built in 2027. That does not fill the immediate gap, but…that is a very significant opportunity for us in the future.“
