Swan Hunter Tyneside History

In 1993 Swan Hunter Ltd had been pushed into financial difficulties when the British Government awarded the building of HMS OCEAN to a joint bid from VSEL and Kvaerner Govan, instead of to Swan Hunter who had pinned their hopes on receiving the order. Getting further work was going to be nigh on impossible. At this time Swan Hunter Ltd was denied access to British Government subsidies for merchant vessel contracts and the immediate prospects for further Naval work were nil, so the receivers were called in. The receivers then completed the three frigates that Swan Hunter were building and then put the company up for sale.

In 1995 the main shipyard at Wallsend was bought from the receivers for £5 million by Jaap Kroese, a Dutch multi-millionaire. It was to be his background in the Offshore Industry that was to lead to this new company Swan Hunter (Tyneside) being awarded the presigeous contract to convert a former bulk carrier into the world's largest pipe-laying vessel SOLITAIRE. This contract would last for nearly 2 years and provide jobs for some 3000 directly employed workers. Other Offshore related work was also carried out.

In 2000 Swan Hunter was awarded the contract to design and build two Royal Navy Auxiliaries, called Landing Ship Docks, for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary with two other ships being built by BAE Systems Naval Ships. The cost of the two Swan Hunter ships was to be £210 million including £62 million for lead yard services, with an inservice date of 2004. By July 2006, the costs had risen to £309 million and only one ship had been delivered. As result of this, the second ship LYME BAY was transferred to BAE Systems Govan in Glasgow for completion.

In 2001 Swan Hunter had acquired Kværner's Port Clarence offshore yard at Teesside with the expectation of further offshore work but then sold it again in 2006 to the Wilton Engineering Group. In November 2006, after the failure to complete LYME BAY within budget and the resulting exclusion from future Royal Navy shipbuilding projects, Jaap Kroese announced that the business was effectively finished and placed the Wallsend Yard's iconic cranes up for sale. He also said that he was actively looking for a buyer for the land. During this time, LYME BAY's earlier sister ship, LARGS BAY, was noted as the last ship to be built and fully completed by Swan Hunter.

In April 2007, Swan Hunter's cranes, along with its floating dock and other equipment, were sold to Bharati Shipyards, India's second-largest private-sector shipbuilder. The entire plant machinery and equipment from Swan Hunter was dismantled and transported to India over six months to be rebuilt at Bharati Shipyards.