Kvaerner Govan Ltd (KGL), located at

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

, was a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

subsidiary formed in 1988 when the Norwegian group

Kværner Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. During its initial decades, the firm was involved in the manufacture of cast iron stoves and hydroelectric turbines. The turbine busi ...

Industrier purchased the

Govan Shipbuilders Govan Shipbuilders Ltd (GSL) was a British shipbuilding company based on the River Clyde at Glasgow in Scotland. It operated the former Fairfield Shipyard and took its name from the Govan area in which it was located. History The company wa ...

division of the nationalised

British Shipbuilders British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation wa ...

corporation. Prior to the Govan Shipyard's nationalisation in 1977, as a result of the

Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 (c. 3) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that nationalised large parts of the UK aerospace and shipbuilding industries and established two corporations, British Aerospace and Br ...

(c. 3), it had been operated by Govan Shipbuilders Ltd, which emerged from the collapse of the previous

Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) was a Scottish shipbuilding consortium, created in 1968 as a result of the amalgamation of five major shipbuilders of the River Clyde. It entered liquidation, with much controversy, in 1971. That led to a " work-in ...

(UCS) joint venture in 1972. Prior to the formation of UCS in 1968, the Shipyard was operated by the

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Na ...

, which had a history extending back to 1834. Kvaerner Govan Ltd invested £30m in modernisation of the shipyard during the early 1990s to enable it to specialise in the construction of

gas carriers A gas carrier, gas tanker, LPG carrier, or LPG tanker is a ship designed to transport LPG, LNG, CNG, or liquefied chemical gases in bulk. Gases are kept refrigerated onboard the ships to enable safe carriage in liquid and vapour form and for ...

and chemical tankers. This included the construction of a large Tank Assembly Shop (TAS), later known as the Ship Block Outfit Hall (SBOH), which enabled the indoor construction of large gas storage tanks and

prefabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. Some research ...

modular ship blocks. Other investment included renovating one of the yard's three

slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving smal ...

s to incorporate a hydraulic 'skidding' system to allow ship blocks and tanks to be moved up and down the berth for assembly, with another filled in to create more berthside storage area. The new indoor modular block construction techniques cut the time ships spent on the outdoor slipways to 20 weeks from 18 months, which, along with reforms in

labour relations Labour relations in practice is a subarea within human resource management, and the main components of it include collective bargaining, application and oversight of collective agreement obligations, and dispute resolution. Academically, employe ...

, improved

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

at the yard by 40% between 1988 and 1992.Today - UK: A fitful pride on the Clyde - GOVAN SHIPBUILDERS
/ref> Between 1991 and 2000, Kvaerner Govan constructed 19 vessels in the yard, including 4 LPG tankers and 6 chemical tankers. However, in the later 1990s, the market for such vessels was depressed and the yard had to find alternative contracts. This included five small

Anchor handling tug supply vessel Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels are mainly built to handle anchors for oil rigs, tow them to location, and use them to secure the rigs in place. AHTS vessels sometimes also serve as Emergency Response and Rescue Vessels (ERRVs) and a ...

s for the

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

industry. The yard also constructed the helicopter carrier for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

under sub-contract from VSEL and the highly sophisticated satellite launch command ship for

Sea Launch Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999 to 2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial l ...

Inc of

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In December 1999, after Kvaerner announced a withdrawal from the shipbuilding industry, the Govan yard was purchased by Clydeport and then taken on a long-term 20-year lease by

BAE Systems Marine BAE Systems Marine Limited was the shipbuilding subsidiary of BAE Systems, formed in 1999, which manufactured the full range of naval ships; nuclear submarines, frigates, destroyers, amphibious ships. While the company remains active, it now ope ...

, which also owned the former

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...

yard in

Scotstoun Scotstoun () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde (and Braehead ...

on the Clyde. It is now part of

BAE Systems Surface Ships BAE Systems plc is a British multinational aerospace, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe and the seventh largest i ...

. Continued investment in capital equipment such as

plasma cutting Plasma cutting is a process that cuts through electrically conductive materials by means of an accelerated jet of hot plasma. Typical materials cut with a plasma torch include steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper, although other ...

and panel line welding, has seen the Govan Shipyard emerge as BAE Systems' Steelwork Centre of Excellence. The 220-ton capacity Fairfield Titan crane, built in 1911, was demolished in 2007 to make way for construction of modules for the s at the yard.

References

External links

The Clyde-built ships data base - lists over 22,000 ships built on the Clyde
{{British shipbuilders evolution Defunct shipbuilding companies of Scotland Kværner Govan Manufacturing companies based in Glasgow Manufacturing companies established in 1988 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1999 1988 establishments in Scotland 1999 disestablishments in Scotland British companies disestablished in 1999 British companies established in 1988 British Shipbuilders