Teesside dry dock sees record number of ships serviced

More than 30 vessels have been successfully worked on in the shipyard’s two dry docks and heavy lift repair quay throughout 2023

Among them were the Royal Navy’s only icebreaker, HMS Protector, former Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tristram, (now a training vessel), as well as Transport For London’s Dame Vera Lynn and Ben Woollacott ferries, the Trinity House Patricia, the UKD Marlin, various North Star and Putford vessels and several Svitzer Tugs.

Jonathan Wilson, MD of UK Docks, said: “We’re delighted to have had such a productive year. 

“This is exactly what we hoped for when we first re-opened the docks in 2014 after they’d been derelict for more than two decades.

“What’s pleasing is the variety of vessels we worked on over the last 12 months, as well as the number of them, and that’s testimony to the skills and versatility of the team.”

UK Docks originally started as a small, boat repair company with a facility on the River Tyne at South Shields in 1992, the town where it is still headquartered.

Since then it has grown to become a national concern with boatyards in Cornwall, Hampshire and Tyneside as well as a ship repair and dry dock facility in Teesside and has previously operated dockyards in Sunderland and Whitehaven.

It is the Teesside site though with its two dry docks and shoresside facilities which has carried out many of the company’s larger-scale contracts which involve multi-million-pound naval orders.

HMS Protector, an essential part of the Royal Navy’s global reach, visited Teesside twice over the course of the year - once for a comprehensive drydock package, and then again later in the year to carry out essential repairs to its main engine and drivetrain, with more than 300 individual work packages being completed on time and on budget.

Commercial ship repair was equally busy with several Teesside and London-based Svitzer tugs, Trinity House vessel Patricia and Transport for London ferries Dame Vera Lynn and Ben Woollacott, which operate on the River Thames at Woolwich, coming in for their first five-year service and docking.

The year has been completed with extensive work on UKD Marlin, Putford Phoenix and an unplanned docking of PD Ports’ Heortnesse.

Those works marked a record-breaking number of vessels handled by the busy yard in a single year.

The Tees shipyard director Stuart Syvret said: “Our growth in 2023 underpins the commitment and ongoing investment to improve the Teesside facility.

“We have two operational drydocks supported by a heavy lift afloat repair berth, fully equipped steel and engineering workshops and two modern 30-tonne Shoreside cranes.

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“We also have a highly-skilled project management team, workforce and trusted subcontract supply chain ensuring, whether works are scheduled or unscheduled, we can react and deliver complex engineering activities in both commercial and Ministry of Defence sectors.”

The yards, on Dockside Road, in Teesport Commerce Park, now perform a significant role in the Tees Valley supply chain and local economy.

And the company plans an even more successful year in 2024 as it eyes a busy order book with new and already existing customers.