BAE Systems is considering closing the Portsmouth dockyard – a move which could affect up to 3,000 jobs – after a review of its shipbuilding operations, the Sunday Times claimed, citing unidentified industry officials.

“As part of our business planning activity, we are reviewing how best to retain the capability to deliver and support complex warships in the UK in the future. This work is ongoing and we will keep our employees and trade union representatives fully informed, as it progresses,” BAE said in a statement cited by the newspaper.

The defence company has appointed LEK Consulting to conduct a review of its shipbuilding division against a backdrop of worldwide defence spending cuts. Portsmouth is vulnerable because of a lack of orders following the completion of a new aircraft for the Royal Navy, but it is believed that the shipbuilding unit has an order book all the way out to 2030.

BAE has a monopoly on British warship construction after it bought the shipbuilding arm of VT Group in 2009, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft. The manufacturer is looking for export orders to keep its Global Combat Ship programme commercially viable. BAE shares have been under pressure because of US budget cuts, a country in which it generates 45% of sales.

BAE has yards on the Clyde and at Portsmouth. All are working on hull sections for the aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.