Upgrade of key Royal Navy fuel depot for HMS Queen Elizabeth is delayed for a year

The £43.6m project to overhaul the ageing oil storage facility in Forton Road, Gosport, was expected to be completed soon.

But difficulties during the outbreak have forced defence officials to rethink the scheme’s timeline, announcing that it is now due to be finished at some point next year.

Updating the project on its website, the Ministry of Defence said: ‘The impact of Covid-19 has delayed the project end date, which is now expected to be winter 2021.’

The multi-million pound redevelopment at the site began in 2018.

It aimed to replace the fuel tanks which are more than 100 years old and ‘approaching the end’ of their service life.

The upgrade was seen as vital to ensure the depot was ‘fully equipped to meet the future requirements of the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers,’ the MoD said.

But with the project now marred by delay, a retired naval officer and defence expert has warned the setback could be a costly one for the taxpayer.

Mike Critchley, a former Lieutenant Commander, said he was surprised by the delay and claimed it may now force the MoD to pump in more cash to pay for oil tankers, berthed at Gosport.

‘This has got a huge financial implication.’ added Mr Critchley, who lives in Gosport. ‘The whole thing is an utter scandal.

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‘The maintenance, as I understand it, wasn’t done between the tanks and the jetty so – at huge expense for three or four years – the MoD has chartered a tanker to sit at the end of the berth, full of fuel, and when they’ve wanted it they have put a barge alongside it and taken the fuel.

‘The cost of that is just eye-watering.’

The site will be built in phases as tanks will be cut down individually and replaced in rows of two while a new gate house will be built with upgraded security.

The first phase of construction was completed in February.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first of two 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers built for the navy at a cost of £6.4bn, is just months away from her first operational deployment.

The ship is currently alongside at Portsmouth Naval Base where her ship’s company continues preparations for next year’s landmark mission.

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