The Furness Shipbuilding Company was a

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

Haverton Hill Haverton Hill is an area within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. Once considered a part of Billingham, Haverton Hill was once a thriving industrial community which has suffered significant depopula ...

Stockton on Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees V ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was established during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and operated from 1917 until 1979. The company was dissolved multiple times since but these were declared void until its final dissolution in 2023.

Establishment

The yard was initially established as an emergency shipyard to repair ships damaged in the war. It was incorporated as a

Private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

in 1917 and covered an 85-acre site on the north bank of the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

at Haverton Hill, opposite

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. As completed it included 50 acres reclaimed from tidal land with 2,500 feet of river frontage, with twelve building berths and a fitting-out basin measuring 1,000 feet by 250 feet. It operated as a subsidiary within the Furness, Withy Shipping Company, with the first ship being laid down in March 1918, before the yard had been completed. It initially built ships for the British Government and foreign companies as well as ships for Furness, Withy & Co and its subsidiaries. During the 1920s it built colliers,

tramp steamer A boat or ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule, itinerary nor published ports of call, and trades on the spot market as opposed to freight liners. A steamship engaged in the tramp trade is sometimes called ...

s, twin-funnelled passenger/cargo liners,

whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

s and five deep-sea tankers. In the late 1920s it built a number of ships for service on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

of North America, transporting grain and gypsum rock. These vessels were of the bridge-forward/engines-aft design typical of the

lake freighter Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carriers operating on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. Freighters typically have a long, narrow hull, a raised pilothouse, and the ...

s. One such ship built by the Furness Shipbuilding Company was the ''Cementkarrier'', one of the first diesel-electric ships built in the North East of England. RFA Wave Conqueror

With the economic decline of the 1930s affecting shipping and shipbuilding companies, the yard had few orders during the early 1930s. Business improved during the mid-1930s and in 1936 the yard produced 11 ships. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, between 1939 and 1946, 26 deep-sea tankers, sixteen coastal CHANT tankers, six tramp ships and three whale factory ships were built. To cope with wartime demand the yard added four extra berths. The postwar years also saw significant orders from the yard, with 76 large ships and tankers built between 1947 and 1963. In around 1951 ownership of the yard was vested in Haverton Holdings. In 1954, J. Sears & Co. bought Haverton Holdings for £3.5 million. By 1961 the yard employed 2,750 workers and was producing ships of to 52,000 tons

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

and steelwork for bridges and

gasholder A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows t ...

Decline

The yard was modernised in 1963 to be able to build

supertanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cr ...

s and

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

s, building its first bulk carrier, ''Essi Gina'', shortly afterwards. A slump in orders followed and in 1967 Sears sold off its shipbuilding interests. In March 1968 it was announced that the yard was to be closed with the loss of 3,000 jobs. In October 1968 the yard was sold to the

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three pow ...

group for £2.5 million. Further orders were placed and on 12 October 1970 the yard launched the first of six Bridge-class ore/bulk/oil carriers, ''Furness Bridge''. Five others were launched at the rate of one per year. In 1977 the yard and the other Swan Hunter assets were nationalised into the

British Shipbuilders Corporation 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 was ...

and two years later, in 1979, the yard was finally closed.

Legacy

The site of the yard passed into the ownership of the Tees Alliance Group, which acquired it to build offshore structures for the oil industry. With the bankruptcy of the company in 2014, its assets, including the shipyard site, were acquired by the Dano-German venture Offshore Structures (Britain) Ltd.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furness Shipbuilding Company 1917 establishments in England Companies based in County Durham Defunct shipbuilding companies of England Engineering companies of England Former defence companies of the United Kingdom History of County Durham 1979 disestablishments in England Manufacturing companies established in 1917 British companies established in 1917 British companies disestablished in 1979