Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2020

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding includes building, repair and maintenance of ships and boats. Scottish Annual Business Statistics is the source of the shipbuilding data. See Annex for more information. Shipbuilding economic data fluctuates between years. It can take several years to build and sell a ship. So, costs are higher in some years and income higher in other years. Company re-structuring also contributes to year-on-year fluctuations. The Shipbuilding Profile in the industry profiles compares Scottish shipbuilding to the UK.

In 2020, Shipbuilding generated £262 million in GVA, 0.19% of the Scottish economy and 7% of the marine economy GVA. Shipbuilding employed 6,700 people, 0.26% of Scottish employment and 10% of marine economy employment.

Scottish shipbuilding made up 12% of UK shipbuilding GVA in 2020 (Shipbuilding Profile). This is a higher proportion than Scotland's contribution to the whole of manufacturing. Scotland accounted for 7% of UK manufacturing GVA in 2020.

From 2011 to 2020, Shipbuilding GVA decreased by 56%. Employment decreased by 7% between 2011 and 2020. Changes in a small number of large shipbuilding companies can have a large impact on the annual data. So, long term trends are more reliable than year on year comparisons (Figure 7).

The top three shipbuilding areas in in 2020 were Glasgow City, Aberdeenshire and Fife. They accounted for 64% of Shipbuilding GVA. Full local authority breakdowns are not available. See the industry profiles Shipbuilding Profile for more information.