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200 jobs from Tyneside ferry contract

A new ferry contract is expected to provide employment for 200 people at a South Tyneside yard. A&P Tyne in Hebburn has forged its first commercial relationship with SeaFrance as part of a contract due to last several weeks.

The news comes just weeks after the yard was told it would only receive a slimmed-down £75m slice of the huge Royal Navy double aircraft carrier contract, which one union leader slammed as “crumbs off the table.”

But A&P Tyne managing director David Skentelbery has welcomed the order on the cross-Channel ferry SeaFrance Berlioz. He said: “This is the first SeaFrance vessel to dock with A&P Tyne. We hope this leads to a long relationship between the two companies.”

The contract will last three weeks and will see 200 workers at the Hebburn yard involved in annual drydocking and refitting.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the bigger share of a £250m contract on part of the aircraft carriers would go to yards in Scotland.

Mr Skentelbery admitted the £75m work earmarked for Hebburn would not create jobs and would not start until 2010, at a time when A&P Tyne is chasing contracts.

GMB regional secretary Tom Brennan claimed the South Tyneside yard had been “handed the consolation prize by the Government,” adding: “The MoD has simply given us the crumbs off the table.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .