India's Business Standard reports that Swan Hunter's has been sold to an Indian shipbuilder who will dismantle the Tyne shipyard's machinery and ship it over to India.

The Indian shipbuilder is reported to be Bharati Shipyard who, the Business Standard says, is developing a greenfield site in Bangalor as a new shipyard.

If the report is true it will mean, sadly, that any slight hopes that remianed to sell the shipyard on for shipbuilding purposes have finally come to an end and along with them a proud 130 year old industry at Wallsend.

The acquisition will greatly speed up Bharati's efforts to gain a slice of a shipbuilding market that is becoming increasingly clogged with newbuild orders much more quickly than if they had to order new machinery such as panel lines, cranes, plate rollers and benders and so on.

The online newspaper says that Bharati will also acquire the floating dock at Swan's with a 20,000 ton lift capacity.

During a 130 year existence, Swan Hunter built over 1,600 ships of various types including more than 400 naval vessels.

In 1995 Swan Hunter (Tyneside) Ltd was established by Mr Jaap Kroese who then acquired the shipyard which then diversified into offshore oil & gas construction.

Recently difficulties over cost over-runs spelled trouble for the yard, mainly with the Bay class vessels for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The yard built two of them with another two built at BAE Systems' Govan shipyard. Delays led to the last of the Tyne vessels being towed to Govan for completion.

Earlier this year the yard's owner said that "Shipbuilding is a non-starter. Both on Tyneside and in the UK as a whole it has no future." after he announced putting the yard up for sale.