One Balaena: exploring apprenticeship opportunities across the UK and Gibraltar

Balaena welcomed Minister Gemma Arias-Vasquez to its Birkenhead yard, followed by a visit to The Engineering College, to see first-hand how the group is developing skills and delivering shipbuilding and engineering on the ground.

The visit provided an opportunity to discuss how Balaena’s growing presence across the UK and Gibraltar could open up greater access to training, apprenticeships and practical experience across its five yards.

Under our “One Balaena” approach, we want people across the group to benefit from the knowledge, facilities and expertise available at each location. For apprentices, that means opportunities to learn from different teams, experience a wider range of projects and build skills they can take forward throughout their careers.

We are exploring how we can strengthen our partnership with The Engineering College to give people from Gibraltar access to the Balaena apprenticeship programme. This could include opportunities to spend time at our UK yards, gaining practical experience alongside skilled shipbuilders and engineers before taking that knowledge back to Gibraltar.

With five yards and more than 2,000 skilled people across the group, Balaena has a wealth of experience to share. Connecting our training opportunities more closely would help develop the next generation of maritime talent while strengthening the skills available across all our locations.

Our thanks to Minister Arias-Vasquez for joining us and to The Engineering College for showing us around and supporting the discussions. We look forward to exploring these opportunities together, with apprentices at the heart of One Balaena’s future.