THE former Cammell Laird shipyard, in Birkenhead, has welcomed the first ship to arrive for refit work under a £180m Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract.
The work being carried out by Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders will see the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Gold Rover being updated for the small fleet tanker’s role refuelling Royal Navy warships. The work on Gold Rover is the first to be carried out under the MoD contract which will see the Birkenhead shipyard maintain four "clusters" of RFA ships – or 11 ships in total – in a deal worth around £180m over five years.
Commodore Dave Preston, defence equipment and support’s director of afloat support at the MoD, said: "One of the major benefits of the through life support contracts is that the companies gather experience of working on these ships.
"When Gold Rover returns here in 2011, for example, the team will know the ship. This closer working with the MoD also helps industry to gain a better understanding of our ongoing requirements."
* RFA Gold Rover is expected to return to the fleet towards the end of the year.
