Laird’s deserves its renaissance on the riverside

Jun 28 2008 by Toby Chapman, Liverpool Daily Post

THE renaissance taking place at the Cammell Laird site is really quite remarkable. It has been a long and painstaking process, but this once-mighty name is increasingly becoming a force to be reckoned with once more.

The prevailing mood of optimism that exists at Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders – that most deter- mined of companies – is certainly pay- ing off, as the Daily Post reveals today.

A lucrative new contract is the latest good fortune to strike the company, based at the former Cammell Laird dry docks.

It is just a few months since it landed a £28m Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract to overhaul Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ship Fort Rosalie.

But that has been dwarfed by the latest piece of business to arrive.

For Birkenhead will become a major centre for the Royal Navy’s ship maintenance in a deal that will secure the future of the shipyard for decades to come.

Northwestern will be responsible for the maintenance of up to a dozen Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships used by the Navy to carry supplies around the world.

The contract could be worth £250m over 25 years, and is a real testimony to the hard work, determination and far-sightedness of this company.

Indeed, the situation now at the shipyard is in sharp contrast to the gloom and despair that pervaded when it closed, apparently for good, six years ago after the collapse of its former owners.

At the time, it seemed as if shipyard work had been lost to the town forever. Thanks to the shipyard’s current owner and managing director, John Syvret, the future now looks secure and prosperous.

The long journey back began within a few weeks of the collapse of Cammell Laird in April, 2001, and Northwestern has enjoyed strong growth in recent years, posting record profits and turnover in latest set of accounts.

This is not a company that plans small. The confidence it has in the abilities of its staff, and in its own capacity to deliver, seems unshakeable. At a time when the credit crunch has cast a pall over many firms, the activity under way at Birkenhead is a very real bright spot.