Hopes of the North-East sharing in a £9bn contract to build two Royal Navy aircraft carriers were raised last night.
The Defence Procurement Agency confirmed that the Swan Hunter yard, on Tyneside, had been identified as having the potential capacity to take part in building the ships.
Agency chief executive David Gould said the yard had been identified by the two competing prime contractors, Thomson Naval Systems and BAE Systems.
Cammell Laird's Birkenhead yard, on Merseyside, was also listed, but there was no indication that the company's other yards, on Tyneside and Teesside, could also take part.
Harland and Wolff, in Belfast, and BAE Systems' yards at Govan, Glasgow, and Barrow, Cumbria, were also identified.
But Mr Gould said that some of the yards listed "face potential build limitations or have access restrictions that could prevent whole-ship construction".
The contract for the two 40,000-tonne carriers is not intended to be awarded until 2004. The agency chief said: "No decisions are planned at this stage on yard selection."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article