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Royal Navy tug boats deal 'should be halted' as firm faces allegations
Portsmouth News
|January 06, 2026
An agreement to build tug boats that will support Royal Navy logistical operations in Portsmouth has been criticised as being "impossible to understand".
A fleet of 24 vessels will be built to support deployments from HMNB Portsmouth and two other Royal Navy bases.
They will be constructed by Damen Shipyards in The Netherlands, which is part of a mammoth 10-year £850m afloat services contract signed between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Serco Maritime.
Now a union has called for the contract to be halted, reviewed, or even cancelled.
It comes amid reports that the work to construct the ships was agreed with no British shipyards consulted, and that Damen could be facing prosecution this year.
The agreement has not been without earlier controversy.
This story is from the January 06, 2026 edition of Portsmouth News.
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