§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress on the provision of strategic sealift. [153493]
§ Mr. HoonOn 26 October last year, I announced that AWSR Shipping Ltd. had been selected as the preferred bidder for the strategic sealift (RoRo) service. Since then negotiations have been under way to place the PFI contract with AWSR.
The negotiations have reached an advanced stage. AWSR has placed sub-contracts with Flensburger of Germany for four ships and Harland and Wolff for two. However, progress has been slowed by difficulties over the detailed commercial arrangements. In view of these complexities, which could threaten the timely completion of the PFI negotiations and early delivery of the service to MOD, I have decided that the Ministry of Defence should take over the commercial shipbuilding contract with Harland and Wolff, as part of the overall PFI arrangements. The contract will be managed by AWSR. On delivery of the ships to them, AWSR will provide the full six ship strategic sealift service on PFI terms.
As I announced on 26 October last year, I expect the full strategic sealift capability to be available by 2003.