Cammell Laird reports busy period for ferry work
British shipyard and marine engineering services company Cammell Laird is reporting a busy period of ferry work docking nearly as many ferries in the first four months of 2015 as in the whole of 2014, the company said in its press release.
The surge in demand for Cammell Laird’s expertise has seen 15 ferries docked at its historic Birkenhead 120 acre site, which includes four drydocks, in 2015. A further three ferries are booked in for drydocking and repairs.
Cammell Laird managing director Linton Roberts said the company has undertaken the work for a range of long standing clients including Caledonian MacBrayne, Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Irish Ferries, NorthLink Ferries, P&O Ferries and Seatruck Ferries.
“It has been a really strong year for ferry drydockings and repairs and we are keen to build on this and win more work from new and existing clients,” he said. “The work we have undertaken has made full use of our drydocks which are suitable for vessels up to 40m beam. The drydockings have included conventional and high-speed vessels, in steel or aluminium. They have ranged from the 46m, 617 gross tons Mersey Ferry Snowdrop to the 209m, 50,938 gross tons Irish Ferries Ulysses.
Mr Roberts said another very high profile job undertaken this year is the ‘dazzling’ of the Mersey ferry “Snowdrop”, coating it in an eye-catching design created by British pop artist Sir Peter Blake – famous for The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album cover.
Commissioned by Tate Liverpool and The First World War Centenary Art Commissions, the project, completed in partnership with Merseytravel and National Museums Liverpool, was part of Merseyside’s First World War commemorations.
Elsewhere Cammell Laird CEO John Syvret, CBE, said it has further bolstered its reputation for building ferries after winning a new multi-million pound contract from the Northern Ireland Government to construct a new freight and passenger ferry, the Strangford, for the Strangford and Portaferry route in County Down.
The 40m vessel will have capacity for 28 cars and 260 passengers and is set to be delivered in August 2016. This followed on from the building and the delivery of two passenger car ferries by Cammell Laird for Western Ferries in 2013, the MV Sound of Seil (Cammell Laird keel number 1387) and MV Sound of Soay (keel number 1388).
Mr Syvret emphasised the wide range of engineering services undertaken by the company in the period showcasing the depth of its experience and expertise.
Meanwhile Cammell Laird Technical Services recently completed a design for the conversion of a number of EuroShip Services Ltd managed vessels to be able to run on both Heavy Fuel Oils and Marine Gas Oil.
Cammell Laird technical manager Paul Ashcroft said this offered ‘big benefits’ to ship owners allowing them to reduce fuel costs when sailing in non-Environmental Control Areas (ECA) and to run on low sulphur MGO to comply with ECA emission regulations.