Cammell Laird wins five year MoD contract extension
THE Ministry of Defence has extended its Royal Fleet Auxiliary maintenance contract with Birkenhead-based shipbuilder Cammell Laird.
The agreement will see Cammell Laird continue the maintenance of nine ships of the RFA Flotilla until 2018, having first wont contract in 2008.
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) supplies fuel, munitions, food and other vital ship’s stores to the Royal Navy fleet while on operations at sea. There are 13 vessels from replenishment tankers and stores vessels through to unique platforms providing specialist capabilities such as aircraft training, a forward repair ship and landing ships.
Cammell Laird Cammell Laird, which is a joint venture between company’s management and the Peel-owned Mersey Docks & Harbour Companymaintains nine ships of RFA ships as part of its through life support contract.
Linton Roberts, Cammell Laird managing director, said: “We are very pleased to see the work recognised and our contract extended following a ‘value for money’ review by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
“We have been working closely with the MoD on this contract for nearly five years and have built a very strong partnership. There is greater continuity of support and engineering, with the ships maintenance here in the UK and around the world now being carried out by the same teams. This results in more preparation time, more in depth understanding and knowledge of the vessels, better specifications, reduced costs, increased vessel availability and a focus on continuous improvement and innovation.
“2012 alone has seen five major refits conducted at our Birkenhead yard and numerous maintenance periods supported around the world – in places as diverse as the Bahamas, the Falklands, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The contract has seen Cammell Laird provide truly ‘global reach’ support over the past four years, with maintenance to RFA vessels carried out on every major continent.”
Commodore (RFA) David Preston said: “These contracts represent the best value for money for defence and each of the companies has a proven track record in supporting the Royal Fleet Auxiliary on a worldwide basis – this ability to support the Navy wherever they are deployed is critical to UK Defence.”
