Why navies buy auxiliary ships from foreign yards

Do navies buy ships abroad when their own industry could build them?

British replenishment ships provide an example: domestic firms would not bid at the available price. Finnish icebreakers illustrate the advantage of an established production line.

The British replenishment ships are offered as an exception to the usual preference for domestic construction. British companies declined to bid because they could not meet the price under the required labour conditions. Icebreakers illustrate a related distinction between having the engineering skills and maintaining regular production. American yards could build them, while Finnish yards already produced them routinely. The discussion leaves the status of the proposed Finnish contract uncertain.