Babcock awarded 10-year contract for aircraft carriers docking

Babcock has been awarded a 10-year contract to provide dry-dock maintenance for the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class (QEC) aircraft carriers.

The new £30m contract follows a previous maintenance period where Babcock completed the first docking for HMS Queen Elizabeth at the Rosyth site in 2019 and includes all routine maintenance and repairs that cannot be done when the vessel is afloat. In addition to the scheduled dockings, Babcock will provide facilities for any contingency dockings required over the 10-year contract duration while sustaining and supporting approximately 300 jobs.

Babcock says this is a significant milestone for big ship dockings at Rosyth, which was the integration site for the UK carrier build and assembly programme from 2008 to 2019. The company’s invested more than £100m in skills, digitisation and site infrastructure over recent years at Rosyth. This is now one of the UK’s most modern, capable and competitive manufacturing and repair facilities for large scale marine and energy programmes, with a circa 2000-strong workforce.

Alongside traditional maintenance practices, the ships’ docking period will further benefit from the digital transformation underway at the Rosyth site, which is already in place to support the build and assembly of the Royal Navy’s new Type 31 Inspiration Class frigates.

“We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to provide dry dockings for the aircraft carriers over the next decade,” says Sean Donaldson, Babcock’s MD of marine engineering and systems and the Rosyth site. “The investments in our Rosyth infrastructure and facilities over the last 10-years mean we are ideally placed to deliver projects of this size and scale. The programme will also benefit from the extensive knowledge and expertise of Babcock’s skilled workforce which is steeped in carrier experience. It’s a really proud moment for us.”