Welcome revival for famous name

Oct 24 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

THE Cammell Laird name has had a chequered history during its long association with the town of Birkenhead. From its proud hey-day as a great shipbuilder in the last century, it fell on hard times before re-opening around the time of the new millennium.

This proved to be a false dawn, however, as the fiasco over a major contract led to the loss of thousands of jobs and the disappearance of this famous name once again.

Now, however, it could be about to experience a turnaround in its fortunes once again with the revival of the historic shipyard’s name by entrepreneur John Syvret.

He has won the right to use it again after protracted negotiations with the receiver of the former Cammell Laird company that collapsed in 2001.

It should be pointed out that this is purely a symbolic change. The former Cammell Laird yard is already a thriving business, carrying out ship repair and conversion work, under the name of Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders.

Turnover has doubled year on year to stand at £42m in the 12 months to the end of May, employing 500 staff directly, rising to 1,000 at peak times.

This makes it, by all accounts, a major player and an important business, particularly in an area such as Birkenhead which has suffered greatly from the decline of traditional industries.

The yard recently completed major contracts for the Ministry of Defence and hopes to secure part of the work for the Royal Navy’s new multi-billion pound aircraft carriers.

Now, the restoration of the original name will complete the long and sometimes painful process of restructuring and regeneration that has been carried out at the site in the wake of Cammell Laird’s collapse, following the aborting of a major contract which left the shipyard more than £40m out of pocket.