Furness Shipbuilding Company

Furness Shipbuilding Company

Company type	Private company
Industry	Shipbuilding
Founded	1917
Defunct	1979 (ceased operations), officially wound up in 2023
Headquarters	Haverton Hill, Stockton on Tees , England, United Kingdom
Area served	United Kingdom, international (British Government, foreign clients, subsidiaries of Furness Withy)
Owner	Furness Withy (initially), Haverton Holdings (c. 1951), J. Sears & Co. (1954), Swan Hunter group (1968), British Shipbuilders Corporation (1977)
Number of employees	2,750 (1961)

The Furness Shipbuilding Company was a ship construction firm located in Haverton Hill, Stockton on Tees, England. Founded amid the First World War, it operated from 1917 until 1979. Although the company underwent several dissolutions, it was not officially wound up until 2023.

Establishment

Created as an emergency facility to repair vessels damaged during wartime, the shipyard was incorporated as a Private company in 1917. It occupied an 85-acre plot on the north bank of the River Tees at Haverton Hill, directly across from Middlesbrough. This site included 50 acres reclaimed from tidal waters, featuring 2,500 feet of river frontage, twelve building berths, and a fitting-out basin measuring 1,000 by 250 feet. Operating under the ownership of Furness Withy, the yard’s inaugural vessel was laid down in March 1918 prior to the completion of the facilities. Early contracts involved ships for the British Government, foreign clients, and subsidiaries of Furness Withy. During the 1920s, the company produced collier ships, tramp steamers, passenger/cargo liners with twin funnels, whaling vessels, and five deep-sea tankers.

In the late 1920s, Furness constructed vessels designed for the North American Great Lakes trade. These included grain and gypsum carriers characterized by bridge-forward and engine-aft layouts typical of lake freighters. Among these was the Cementkarrier, recognized as one of the earliest diesel-electric ships built in Northeast England.

The early 1930s saw a downturn in orders due to the Great Depression, but activity improved by the mid-1930s with eleven ships completed in 1936. During Second World War from 1939 to 1946, the yard produced 26 deep-sea tankers, sixteen coastal CHANT tankers, six tramp vessels, and three whale factory ships. To accommodate increased wartime production demands, four additional berths were constructed. After the war, demand continued robustly with 76 large ships and tankers built between 1947 and 1963. Around 1951 ownership passed to Haverton Holdings; subsequently in 1954 J. Sears & Co. purchased Haverton Holdings for £3.5 million. By 1961, the workforce numbered approximately 2,750 employees and the yard was capable of constructing ships up to 52,000 tons deadweight as well as fabricating steel components for bridges and gasholders.

Decline

In 1963, modernization efforts enabled production of supertankers and bulk carriers. Shortly thereafter, the yard launched its first bulk carrier named Essi Gina. However, a subsequent decline in orders occurred and in 1967 Sears divested its shipbuilding operations. The closure of the yard was announced in March 1968 with a resulting loss of around 3,000 jobs. Later that year in October, ownership transferred to the Swan Hunter group for £2.5 million. Following this acquisition, contracts included six Bridge-class ore/bulk/oil carriers, starting with Furness Bridge in 1970; these were launched at an approximate rate of one per year. In 1977, both the yard and Swan Hunter’s assets were nationalized under the British Shipbuilders Corporation. The shipyard ultimately ceased operations permanently in 1979.

Legacy

The Tees Alliance Group purchased the facility to manufacture structures for the offshore oil sector. Following TAG's insolvency in 2014, the shipyard property and other assets were acquired by the Danish-German partnership known as Offshore Structures (Britain) Ltd..