Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2023

Shipbuilding includes building, repair and maintenance of ships and boats. Scottish Annual Business Statistics is the source of the shipbuilding data. See Data and Methodology 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 2023, Shipbuilding generated £540 million in aGVA, 0.29% of the Scottish economy and 10% of the marine economy aGVA. Shipbuilding employed 7,700 people, 0.29% of Scottish employment and 10% of marine economy employment.

Scottish shipbuilding made up 17% of UK shipbuilding aGVA in 2023 (Shipbuilding Profile). This is a higher proportion than Scotland’s contribution to the whole of manufacturing. Scotland accounted for 8% of UK manufacturing aGVA in 2023.

From 2014 to 2023, Shipbuilding aGVA decreased by 19%. Employment increased by 5% between 2014 and 2023. 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).

Figure 7. Ship building aGVA has decreased from £667 million in 2014 to £540 million in 2023. However, there are large annual fluctations with some years changing by more than £200 million compared to the previous year. 

Ship building aGVA by year, 2014 to 2023

The top three local authority areas in 2023 (Glasgow City, Aberdeen City, & Fife) accounted for 84% of aGVA in the sector. Full local authority breakdowns are not available. See the industry profiles Shipbuilding Profile for more information.