Cammell Laird sees major increase in commercial repair work
The UK’s west coast-based repairer Cammell Laird has seen a major upturn in its commercial repairs activities at the end of 2023 and the start of 2024 (Source: Cammell Laird)
Merseyside, UK shipyard Cammell Laird saw a 50% increase in its commercial ship repair work towards the end of 2023 compared with the same time the year before, and has started 2024 with a bang, with a total of six vessels undergoing repair on 17 January.
The rush of commercial work at the end of 2023 saw the annual maintenance and drydocking of Mersey Ferries passenger ferry Royal Iris, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co’s 1998-built Incat 96m wave-piercing catamaran fast ferry Manannan, Holland’s Boskalis Westminster Dredging’s 1978-built 1,300m3 capacity TSHD Deo Gloria and the 2015-built 4,500m3 capacity TSHD Freeway; the RoPax ferry Lord of the Isles, owned by Scotland’s Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and operated by Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac), the 2018-built 4,500 dwt PSV Vos Patriot, owned by Holland’s VOS Offshore Services, and the 734gt 2010-built tug Svitzer Pembroke, owned by Danish global tug giant Svitzer and operating out of the port of Milford Haven, in Wales.
Cammell Laird announced in late December last year that it had “turned a corner” and was now back in profit as it continues to navigate its way out of challenging years. The shipyard’s Managing Director, Mike Hill, said that the business had undergone a “complete overhaul” over the past couple of years.
Meanwhile, on 23 January, the shipyard was repairing the following vessels:
- Manannan – 1998-built Incat 96m Wave-piercing catamaran fast ferry, owned by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co Ltd
- Stena Edda – 41,671gt 2020-built RoPax ferry, owned by Sweden’s Stena Line. Vessel operates on the daily service between Birkenhead and Belfast
- Clansman – 5,499gt 1998-built RoPax ferry, owned by Scotland’s Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and operated by Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac)
- Stena Europe – 24,828gt 1981-built RoPax ferry, owned by Sweden’s Stena Line. This vessel has just completed a charter in the Mediterranean
- RFA Proteus – 6,133gt 2019-built seabed survey and surveillance vessel, owned by the UK’s Ministry of Defence and operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). This vessel, formerly the offshore multi-purpose support vessel Topaz Tangaroa, was converted by Cammell Laird in 2023
- RFA Tiderace – 29,324gt 2019-built naval replenishment tanker, owned by the UK’s Ministry of Defence and operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)
