Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2022

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 2022, Shipbuilding generated £403 million in aGVA, 0.24% of the Scottish economy and 8% of the marine economy aGVA. Shipbuilding employed 7,300 people, 0.28% of Scottish employment and 10% of marine economy employment.

Scottish shipbuilding made up 15% of UK shipbuilding aGVA in 2022 (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 2022.

From 2013 to 2022, Shipbuilding aGVA decreased by 20%. Employment increased by 4% between 2013 and 2022. 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 £505 million in 2013 to £403 million in 2022. 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, 2013 to 2022

The top five local authority areas in 2022 (Glasgow City, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Inverclyde & Fife) accounted for 90% of aGVA in the sector. Full local authority breakdowns are not available. See the industry profiles Shipbuilding Profile for more information.