Swan Hunter
The Company was privatised again in 1987 but decided to close its Neptune Yard in 1988.[27] It was then forced to call in the receivers when the UK government awarded the contract for HMS Ocean (L12) to Kvaerner Govan in 1993.[28] The receiver took steps to break up the business.[29] However, the main shipyard in Wallsend was bought out from receivership by Jaap Kroese, a Dutch millionaire.[22] The yard subsequently undertook several ad-hoc ship repair and conversion projects for private-sector customers.[30]
In 2000, Swan Hunter was awarded the contract to design and build two (Auxiliary) Landing Ship Dock ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary with two other ships being built by BAE Systems Naval Ships: the cost of the two Swan Hunter ships was to be £210 million including £62 million for lead yard services, with an inservice date of 2004.[31] By July 2006, the costs had risen to £309 million and only one ship had been delivered. As a result of this, the second ship RFA Lyme Bay was transferred to BAE Systems Govan in Glasgow for completion.[32]
In 2001, Swan Hunter acquired Kværner's Port Clarence offshore yard at Teesside[33] but then in 2006 sold it to Wilton Engineering Group.[34]
In November 2006, after the failure to complete Lyme Bay within budget and resulting exclusion from future Royal Navy shipbuilding projects, Jaap Kroese announced that the business was effectively finished and placed the Wallsend Yard's iconic cranes up for sale. He also said that he was actively looking for a buyer for the land.[35] During this time, Lyme Bay's earlier sister ship, Largs Bay, was noted as the last ship to be built and fully completed by Swan Hunter. In April 2007, Swan Hunter's cranes, along with its floating dock and other equipment, were sold to Bharati Shipyards, India's second-largest private-sector shipbuilder. The entire plant machinery and equipment from Swan Hunter was dismantled and transported to India over six months to be rebuilt at Bharati Shipyards.[36]
Swan's performed the conceptual design of Pioneering Spirit, provisionally named Pieter Schelte, the world's largest platform installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel. The basic design of the lifting systems was completed by the end of 2008, and detailed design of the hulls by May 2010.[37]
In 2008, the company said it was concentrating on ship design with just under 200 people employed.[1][38]
In 2016, Jaap Kroese died but the company said it would continue with its business of ship design. At the time, the company had 40 employees and contractors.[39]
Also in 2016, Swan Hunter was relaunched into the subsea industry by Gerard Kroese, the eldest son of former owner Jaap Kroese. Swan Hunter started to offer specialist equipment, design, engineering & project management services to the offshore renewables and subsea oil & gas energy markets.[40] On 12 October 2016, the company announced the issue of a letter of intent for the design and build of a basket carousel loading tower.[41] The company announced further equipment pool growth through a 15Te tensioner and 450Te reel drive system.[42] Swan Hunter announced loading tower readiness on 5 May 2017[43] with completion of mobilisation onto EMAS Chiyoda Subsea's multi-lay vessel 'Lewek Constellation' shortly thereafter.[44]
