Cammell Laird MD hopes for a brighter future

Nov 7 2007 by Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post

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THE rebirth of Cammell Laird’s shipyard has been a long and drawn-out process, but now all of the pieces of the jigsaw appear to be in place.

What is more, the shipyard’s management insists the years ahead hold huge potential for all involved.

The prevailing mood of optimism is in sharp contrast to the gloom and despair surrounding the shipyard when it closed, apparently for good, six years ago after the collapse of the stockmarket-quoted group that owned it.

An Italian cruiseline, Costa Crociere, withdrew from a £51m contract to lengthen one of its vessels after Laird’s had spent £40m on the project. Thousands of shipyard workers at Laird’s yards in the north east of England, the south of France, Gibraltar and on the west coast of America lost their jobs.

At the time, it seemed as if shipyard work had been lost to the town forever. Now though, the shipyard’s current owner and managing director John Syvret is even talking about constructing part of the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers and seven Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers at the yard.

Together those contracts are worth £5bn, and even a small fraction of that work would make a big difference to prospects for the shipyard.

Mr Syvret said: “We have reached an agreement with Peel Holdings (the yard’s landlord) that we can utilise the construction hall for marine projects. That is an extremely important asset for us going forward, particularly for the future aircraft carriers.”

The massive construction shed, which dominates the Birkenhead skyline, is one of the largest indoor ship construction facilities in Europe. However, no marine vessel has been completed there since HMS Victory came down the slipway 15 years ago. The shed didn’t ever belong to the Laird’s that went bust in 2001. It had previously been in the possession of BAE Systems, which sold it to a local property developer. Previous attempts to buy it by both the quoted company and Mr Syvret’s Northwestern Shiprepairers were unsuccessful.

But those problems are a thing of the past and Mr Syvret believes that now he has access to the shed, it will be invaluable for work on the major military contracts that are currently up for grabs.

Work on the construction of the two 60,000-tonne aircraft carriers is due to commence in 15 months’ time. “The company has been approved by the aircraft carrier alliance. We are currently discussing work packages with BAE,” he added.

Even without the aircraft carriers or tanker work, the shipyard is growing fast. Its latest annual turnover is £45m and it employs nearly 500 staff.

The long journey back began within a few weeks of the collapse of Cammell Laird in April 2001. Mr Syvret had failed in his attempt to buy the yard as a going concern straight from the administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Undaunted by that disappoint-ment, he found office space at the Lairdside Foundation, which offers marine engineering training to local people.

“My PA, Joanne, came with me and we found her a desk at the foundation,” he recalled.

He then spoke to Mersey Docks and Harbour Company about taking short-term licences to carry out ship repair work at Bidston and Canada dry docks either side of the River Mersey. He christened his new venture Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders.

Keen that local shipping firms should have access to convenient ship repair facilities, MDHC took a 50% stake in the new business and invested £400,000 while also refurbishing some of the docks.

With the Irish Sea market close at hand, Mr Syvret used his extensive contacts to generate about £10m of work in year one. However, he knew that for the business to really thrive and maximise jobs in the area, it was esential to get back into the original Cammell Laird dry docks.

They were in the hands of Southampton-based rival A&P Group, who had succeeded in buying them from the receiver.

“They wanted to keep them mothballed. They didn’t think the local market was big enough,” said Mr Syvret.

A&P did win some work for Birkenhead, but nothing like the volumes heading Northwestern’s way.