North East ship repairer UK Docks Marine Services lands new contract with Bangladesh Navy

The contract is said to be one of the biggest moments in the company’s 30-year history

A ship repair specialist with operations on the Tyne and Tees has signed a major contract with the Bangladesh Navy – its first with a foreign power.

The South Shields-based firm, which last month announced £84m of work with the UK Ministry of Defence, will now take receipt of the former HMS Enterprise, which has been decommissioned from the Royal Navy and acquired by Bangladesh. Once in dry dock in the North East, UK Docks workers will spend the rest of the year bringing it back to “operational readiness”.

The firm says the work will create around 23 new jobs – including some at its Tyneside headquarters. They will include programme oversight staff who will work with suppliers in Norway and 20 fixed term contracts for specialists from the ship repair and maritime engineering sectors.

UK Docks managing director Jonathan Wilson, said: “It was a landmark moment for the company when it earned service and maintenance contracts with the Royal Navy more than a decade ago but this is the first time we’ve worked on a vessel for a navy beyond the UK.”

The UK Docks’ senior management team flew to Bangladesh to sign the Former HMS Enterprise Regeneration Contract in Dhaka, alongside the two most senior and high-profile officers in the Bangladesh Navy. The multimillion-pound agreement will see initial work on the former HMS Enterprise taking place at a UK Docks’ Teesside facility, which has recently expanded from two to four dry docks.

Mr Wilson said: “It’s a completely new development for the company and one we’re looking forward to delivering on. It opens up a lot of possibilities for UK Docks.

“The fact that this is a capital project for the newly-formed Bangladesh Government and that it was signed by the equivalent of the first and second Sea Lords of the British Admiralty, shows its importance to Bangladesh and significance to us. Without doubt, it’s one of the biggest moments in UK Docks’ history, stretching back over 30 years of increasing growth.”

Work on the HMS Enterprise will include retrofitting advanced propulsion systems from Norwegian manufacturer Brunvoll AS, which will give it better manoeuvrability and reliability. UK Docks will also install cutting edge hydrographic and maritime technologies to give it data-gathering capabilities

Once work is complete, the 90.5m long, 3,740-tonne vessel will significantly enhance the Bangladesh Navy’s capabilities. UK Docks’ relationship with the vessel goes back a number of years when it took on a maintenance contract along with HMS Echo and HMS Protector.

Launched in 2002 and commissioned by the Royal Navy in 2003, HMS Enterprise was known for its distinguished service in survey operations, humanitarian support, and disaster‑response missions worldwide. It was decommissioned in March 2023, and sold to the Bangladesh Navy last month.