Once the joke was with staff at the NS ship building arm that getting onto the Pentekonter line was your pension plan. The massive backlog of customer orders plus the huge order for NS Protectors meant the line seemed to be set to remain open for ever, even at maximum capacity with five ships at any one time under construction.
However, as the backlog has reduced considerably (although it is rumoured a new export order is due to be announced soon) the decision has been made to close the second line by the end of the year. This means that just one line will remain open, only three ships will be under construction at any one time (which is still very good).
Its possibly the closed line may be re-tooled for Black Triangle 126A production though this is some way off.
