Superyachts get heave-ho at yard

Babcock has two superyacht contracts to fulfil at Devonport

Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth is to wind down its business making superyachts for multi-millionaires.

Owners Babcock Marine say it is to do with an upturn in military work rather than the economic crisis.

It says its yard at Appledore in north Devon, which has been used for making superyacht hulls, needs to be freed up for cut steel for new navy carriers.

Devonport Yachts in Plymouth is to be wound down, but the firm said none of its 340 staff would be made redundant.

It said the final two contracts would be completed over the next 12 to 18 months.

One superyacht finished two years ago was worth �1m a metre.

Frigates hope

The Appledore yard will help build hull sections for two of the UK's next generation of aircraft carriers.

Together, the 65,000 tonne vessels will cost a total of �3.8bn and be assembled at a dry dock in Rosyth, Scotland, also owned by Babcock.

In turn Babcock in Devonport could get work on frigates displaced from Rosyth.

The carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy, nearly three times the size of the current Invincible-class carriers.

They are expected to be completed between 2014 and 2016.

The Appledore work has come out of Babcock's takeover of the Devonport yard in Plymouth in June 2007 from previous owner DML.

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