Scotland's tradition of shipbuilding has iconic status and can still deliver a new age of success, argues Dr Marie Macklin

Scotland’s industrial history is many layered. As a nation we were in the vanguard of the industrial revolution, charting a path which others followed while reaping the benefits, and downsides, of industrialization and the rapid deindustrialization which has followed in more recent times.

Coal mining, textile manufacturing and steel making all form part of that story – a rich tapestry of toil and achievement, the legacies of which, for good and ill, are all around us. But if there is one industry above all others which still has iconic status in Scotland, it is surely our tradition of shipbuilding.

The days when the shipyards of the Clyde built many of the merchant and passenger vessels sailing the world’s oceans are long gone, but there remains a core of expertise here which may yet deliver a new age of success.

Recent announcements that Scottish shipyards are to be at the very forefront of a new raft of international defence procurement is proof of that enduring excellence.

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And it also presents a chance to revitalize the sector for the long term in a way that can underpin a new age of reindustrialization which is so badly needed. However, it is a moment which needs to be seized before the window of opportunity closes,

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