South Korea wins Royal Navy tanker deal worth £452m

The Royal Navy has chosen South Korean firm Daewoo for a £452m deal to build four new fuel tankers.  The 37,000-tonne Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) tankers will allow the Royal Navy to refuel at sea. UK firms took part in the tender, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said none made a final bid to take part.
Shadow Defence secretary Jim Murphy said the move was “more bad news for British industry” while the GMB union said it was angered by the decision.  Keith Hazlewood, GMB national secretary, said: “Once again UK taxpayers’ money is being spent abroad on ships which are vital for the Royal Navy to defend our shores.  “A proactive UK government could have put a consortium together to build these tankers in the UK.”
Despite being built in Korea, the UK has won £150m of associated contracts to assist the project.  These include £90m on UK contracts for equipment, systems, design and support services.  There will be a further £60m investment in the UK to be spent on customising the ships for the Royal Navy, trials and specialist engineering help.