Birkenhead based shipyard and engineering firm Cammell Laird has hosted a formal naming ceremony for the first complete ships constructed by the company in 20 years for Scottish ferry operator Western Ferries (see notes to editors).
The ceremony marked the completion of a multi-million pound contract which has seen Cammell Laird build two new car ferries for Western Ferries MV Sound of Seil (Cammell Laird keel number 1387) and MV Sound of Soay (keel number 1388).
The vessels continue Western Ferries tradition of naming its vessels after Scottish sounds. More than 200 guests attended the event which saw the ferries blessed before being christened with bottles of champagne broken over their bows by Glenis Coles and Maria Chittick, who are the wives of long-standing Western Ferries’ staff, Capt Robin Coles and Neil Chittick.
The new vessels can carry 54 cars and are enlarged versions of the company’s roll-on roll-off ferry MV Sound of Shuna, which can carry 45 cars. Both vessels are nearing the completion of their finishing works and sea-trails, and will soon begin operations on Western Ferries route between Dunoon and Gourock.
The vessels are the first complete ships constructed at Cammell Laird since the submarine HMS Unicorn was launched in 1992 and commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1993. The sub was sold to Canada in 2002 and is now HMCS Windsor.
Cammell Laird is one of the most famous names in British industry.
The business is located on the River Mersey, in the Liverpool City Region, on the West Coast of England. It is in the centre of a marine cluster, with direct access to many support services. It has a 120 acre site with four dry docks, a large modular construction hall and extensive covered workshops.
Cammell Laird specialises in military ship refit, commercial ship repair, upgrade and conversion and heavy fabrication and engineering. It deals with a wide variety of projects ranging from specialist offshore conversions and fabrication, commercial ship-repair through to the refit and upgrade of highly complex naval auxiliaries. It has also recently re-entered the ship-building market.
The business is further active in the energy sector. It has become a hub of the off shore wind industry and it is offering its facilities and highly trained workforce of engineers for work in the civil nuclear sector and the off shore oil and gas sector.