Victory and defeat: shipbuilding founders in a changing climate

Competition, lack of investment and industrial problems ended 500 years of making the Royal Navy’s ships at Portsmouth

Dave Harris, owner of Dave’s Barber Shop just outside Portsmouth naval base, was sitting on one of his chairs, head in hands. He was bitterly sorry for the shipbuilders whose hair he had cut for years, and worried for his own business. That morning BAE Systems and the government had announced the end of 500 years of shipbuilding on the site with the loss of 940 jobs.

“It’s terrible news,” he said. “I’ve got to know many of the lads who work there. They’re going to have a miserable Christmas now. It’s a shocker. I know they say it’s all about business, but it looks like it’s a political decision. It’s got to be about the independence thing.”

Referring to the decision to keep two sister sites open on the Clyde, he added: “The government’s trying to keep the Scots sweet. But Portsmouth is all about military shipbuilding. It’s a huge part of the place.”

BAE blamed a significant drop in demand for its decision to cut 1,775 jobs at its yards in Scotland and England.

“The company remains committed to continued investment in the Portsmouth area as the centre of its maritime services and high-end naval equipment and combat systems business,” it said in a statement. But the admission that operations in Govan and Scotstoun will be protected was seen – and not just by Harris – as a blatant bid to avoid handing a PR gift to Scottish nationalists.

Harris offers bargain haircuts to service personnel and dockyard workers – £7.50 against £8.95 to civilians. “The navy is my main customer, but the dock workers are a close second. I’d say they’re about 20% of my trade. That’s why I’ve been sitting with my head in my hands. This is a big blow for me.”

Further down Queen Street towards the historic dockyard, resting place of Henry VIII’s Mary Rose and of Nelson’s Victory, and the same sentiments are repeated. At Baun & Co naval outfitters, where they have been kitting out sailors for 40 years, Martin Lee was dismissive about the line that it was all about business. “I’m cynical about that. There’s always politics involved … The government ought to be more honest and make it clear that there is politics in all this. These job losses will be felt across the city.”

But the story of shipbuilding decline is not new in Britain. The industry reached its zenith in terms of the number of ships built in 1961, when it produced 192 merchant vessels, but even in 1977 – the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and the Sex Pistols – 100 ships were launched. The UK had 32 significant shipyards and six marine engine works that employed almost 90,000 workers, inside what was then the state-owned British Shipbuilders.

The numbers of ships produced had dropped to 61 by 1985, 33 by 2000, then slumped to a pitiful four in 2011 and two last year. Naval …read more