Cammell Laird: Shipbuilders to the World

(1824 - 1993) (2008 onwards)

Cammell Laird built its first vessel at Birkenhead as long ago as 1828. The company has not built a new vessel at Birkenhead since 1993 and recently plans have been put forward for the redevelopment of the Cammell Laird shipyard site. Ship repair and conversion work continues to expand at Birkenhead under the A&P Group. In 2005 North Western Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd took over the yard. But given the general state of the British shipbuilding industry it seems unlikely that shipbuilding will ever return to the legendary Cammell Laird shipyard at Birkenhead. It seems that this chapter in the yard’s history has now closed forever.

But in 2008 Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd was renamed Cammell Laird and so once again the famous name graced its shipyard on the River Mersey. Cammell Laird has revived once more and all the signs are that it is enjoying significant success!

However Cammell Laird did not only undertake shipbuilding they also were involved in the building of railway locomotives and carriages. In the end this operation was spun off and eventually became Metro-Cammell based in Birmingham. So they were not just Shipbuilders to the World. In the 1990s Metro-Cammell merged with GEC Traction to form GEC-Alstom, today this survives as part of the engineering giant Alstom, their last train built there is the new Pendolino tilting trains for Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line route. Sadly these may be the last as Alstom wish to close down the works at the end of 2004.

The Early Years:

Cammell Laird was started in 1824 by a William Laird, a Scottish entrepreneur, who like many of his fellow Scots moved to the River Mersey to seek his fortune. He set up a boiler making works on the south bank of the Wallasey Pool and in 1828 was joined by his son, John Laird, who realised the possibility of expanding into iron shipbuilding. The techniques of bending iron plates and riveting them together to build ships were similar to the principles involved in boiler making. Laird’s first vessel was a 60ft prefabricated iron lighter for Charles Wye Williams’ Irish Inland Navigation Company in 1829. This was followed by further orders for more lighters and in 1833 the paddle steamer Lady Lansdowne was built for the same firm. She could carry 300 tons plus passengers and was used to tow lighters on Lough Derg and the river Shannon. Her hull is still embedded in the river bank at Killaloe.

In 1839 Laird built its first screw propelled steamer, Robert F. Stockton, a 63ft tug for use on North American waterways. By 1840, Laird had built another 21 iron paddle steamers including four gun boats for anti-piracy patrols for the East India Company. Laird’s reputation continued to grow and in the same year the Admiralty gave Laird an order for the paddle steamer Dover which was to be the first steamer for the cross channel mail service. She must have been satisfactory because Dover was followed by further orders for paddle frigates. These included the 1,400 ton HMS Birkenhead of 1848 which was wrecked off South Africa with the loss of over 400 soldiers in 1852. Laird was also involved in developing the new town of Birkenhead and in 1844 starting the construction of the new docks in the tidal Wallasey Pool. These were intended to compete with the Port of Liverpool but the venture was not a success and the system was merged with Liverpool docks in 1858.

Nevertheless Laird continued to expand its shipbuilding business. In 1852 it took over the lease of a south Liverpool shipyard, whose main work was building small gun boats for the Crimean war between 1854 and 1856. This yard was eventually handed back to its owners when Laird opened a huge new yard at Birkenhead in 1857. Covering 20 acres with five drydocks, this site still forms the core of the current yard. In 1858, an engine building works was added.

Laird also experimented by using steel plates instead of wrought iron when it built Ma Robert, a small river steamer for the famous explorer Dr David Livingstone. Between 1850 and 1870, Merseyside’s shipbuilders were among the most innovative in the country. However, those on the Liverpool side of the river were hampered by lack of space, restrictive leases and a dependence on the booms and slumps of merchant shipping so by 1900 they had all closed. Laird on the other hand had a much wider portfolio of customers including the Royal Navy and foreign navies and the company had also built merchant vessels, from sailing ships to fast cross channel steamers.

John Laird, son of the founder, retired in 1861 and transferred the business to his three sons, William, John and Henry Laird. The Laird family continued to run the shipyard until it was merged with Sheffield steel makers Charles Cammell & Co in 1903 and thus the name Cammell Laird was born. With this added financial muscle, the company was able to reclaim a large section of foreshore and build the present works and fitting out basin. The last member of the Laird family to work for the shipyard was J. MacGregor Laird.

The Warships:

By 1869 Laird had built a large number of small warships for the Royal Navy or associated government organisations such as the Indian colonial administration. The succeeding decades saw Laird selling an increasing number of warships to foreign navies. By far the most notorious was the schooner rigged steamer Alabama of 1862. She was commissioned by the American Confederate Government as a “fast merchant steamer” and departed the Mersey unarmed, picking up her guns in the Azores. For two years she terrorised Federal shipping and sank 68 ships. The following year, Laird was commissioned to build two armoured coastal monitors for the Confederates. These vessels were technically significant as they were equipped with revolving turrets instead of the traditional broadside arrangement. The British Government seized both ships because they compromised the country’s neutrality and they were commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Scorpion and HMS Wivern. Laird also built four turret ships for the Dutch Navy between 1866 and 1869, as well as one for Peru and two for the Royal Navy, including the disastrous HMS Captain of 1869 which capsized with heavy loss of life a year after she was completed. The Company also delivered warships to the Portuguese and Chinese navies and the 1870s saw further commissions for foreign navies including two turret ships for the Argentine navy.

In the 1880s, the growing threat to battleships from attack by fast torpedo boats was countered by the development of larger faster “torpedo boat catchers” or destroyers as they later became known. The launch of the experimental HMS Rattlesnake in 1886 was followed by a succession of destroyers including 19 for the Royal Navy before 1914 and orders for the Argentinean and Chilean navies.

Cammell Laird did not build its first submarine, E41 until 1915. The Company went on to build a further seven up to 1918 and continued to maintain this expertise right up until the building of its last ship in 1993, the U class submarine HMS Unicorn for the Royal Navy. Over those 78 years, notable submarines constructed at Birkenhead included the 1939 built HMS Thetis which tragically sank on her trials with the loss of all but three men on board. Three nuclear submarines were built at Birkenhead: HMS Renown, HMS Revenge and the hunter killer HMS Conqueror which sank the Argentinean cruiser General Belgrano during the Falklands War.

Laird built earlier types of naval capital ship including seven big gun battleships for the Royal Navy between 1895 and 1941: HMS Royal Oak (1892), HMS Mars (1895), HMS Glory (1899), HMS Exmouth (1901), HMS Audacious (1901), HMS Rodney (1925) and HMS Prince of Wales (1941). The last took part in the sinking of the German battleship Bismark in 1941 and HMS Prince of Wales was sunk by Japanese aircraft in December of the same year. Between 1911 and 1919, Laird built nine light cruisers and the last, HMS Achilles of 1932 was one of the three cruisers that cornered the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in 1939.

Cammell Laird also completed three aircraft carriers, two fleet carriers both named HMS Ark Royal in 1939 and 1950, and the smaller HMS Venerable of 1943 which was sold to the Dutch navy. The first HMS Ark Royal was sunk in the Mediterranean in 1941 and the second was a major component of the Royal Navy into the late 1970s. This ship was notable as being the subject of the TV programme “Sailor” one of the first fly-on-the-wall style documentaries.

Merchant Ship Building:

While the naval contracts probably provided more in the way of prestige and profit, merchant ship construction was Laird’s bread and butter and most were mundane vessels, such as bulk carrying iron sailing ships, tugs, dredgers or barges. Early on the company gained a reputation for fast mail packets and cross channel steamers. In 1860, it completed steamers for the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) which, with a speed of 18 knots were the fastest ships afloat for many years. Orders for cross Channel steamers continued into the 20th century and these included St George of 1906, one of the first turbine steamers operated on the Fishguard to Rosslare service.

Laird was also among the first to build steam cargo liners which could carry enough cargo to pay their way without a mail subsidy. The pioneering African Steam Navigation Co, which was run by a relative, Macgregor Laird, ordered the 900 ton Faith, Hope and Charity in 1852. From then on Laird built for a wide range of liner companies, but not the obvious ones such as White Star Line or Blue Funnel, which both had strong links to other shipyards. Laird’s major customers included the Pacific Steam Navigation Co, Singlehurst’s Red Cross Line to Brazil and foreign companies such as Messageries Maritime. The Company built three liners for Cunard Line: the 5,517gt Cephalonia of 1882, the yard’s first passenger liner, the 19,602gt Samaria of 1920, and the largest and most famous, the 35,738gt second Mauretania of 1939. This vessel was only exceeded in size by the yard’s last passenger ship, Union-Castle Line’s 37,277gt Windsor Castle completed in 1960.
Cammell Laird’s mercantile output included a number of innovative designs. In 1909, Laird built the world’s largest suction dredger, the 10,000 ton Leviathan for the Mersey Docks & Harbour Co, and the year after built the world’s largest floating dock designed to take the Royal Navy’s latest dreadnoughts. Perhaps a more important technical breakthrough was Fullagar, a small motor coaster of 1920, which was notable as having the world’s first all welded hull.

Engine wise, Cammell Laird had the expertise to build steam turbines but not diesels, and in 1956 the yard built the Shell tanker Sepia the first major merchant ship with gas turbine propulsion. This did not lead to a flood of orders, although gas turbines became the accepted propulsion for modern warships. Cammell Laird was a versatile yard. For example, during the Second World War when building tonnage to replace war losses, Laird undertook anything from the largest tankers of the day to refrigerated ships for Shaw Savill Line (among others) and new Mersey tugs. This variety of orders continued into the 1970s, although competition from abroad made orders increasingly difficult to win.

Among their completions in the 1970s were three container ships for Canadian Pacific, two gas tankers for P&O and three “combi” ships for Pacific Steam Navigation Co. After the mid 1970s, orders became scarce and on privatisation the Company was barred from tendering for merchant ship orders.

Some Survivals:

A number of Cammell Laird’s products are still sailing or preserved, including more recently built vessels such as the RFA tankers Brambleleaf and Appleleaf of 1979, the Type 42 destroyer HMS Liverpool and Type 23 (Batch 3) destroyer HMS Campbelltown. Other notable survivors include the First World War light cruiser HMS Caroline, which acts as the base for the Royal Naval Reserve in Belfast, and the O class submarine HMS Onyx of 1966. The latter has been saved and opened to visitors in Birkenhead Docks as part of the Historic Warships Birkenhead collection.

A number of older vessels around the world also survive, including the turret ship Huascar built for the Peruvian Navy in 1865 and subsequently captured by the Chileans who have preserved her at their naval base Talcahuano. The corvette Uruguay of 1874, which was used as an Antarctic exploration ship, and the sail training ship Presidente Sarmiento of 1897 which are both preserved in Buenos Aires in Brazil. In Peru, the river gun boat America of 1904 is preserved as a memorial to the war with Colombia in 1911. She was in fact built by the Tranmere Bay Development Co which was set up by Cammell Laird and a smaller shipbuilder John Jones & Co who had a small site at Tranmere next to Laird’s yard. This new company took on the task of reclaiming the tidal area of Tranmere for the new shipyard.

Another surviving vessel is the former Manchester Ship Canal Co’s tug and director’s boat Daniel Adamson of 1903. She was another product of the Tranmere Bay Development Co and has recently been saved from scrapping and is under restoration. Also the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company steamer Manxman still exists and is the subject of a campaign by the Manxman Steamship Company to bring her home to Merseyside for preservation. So ranging from the HMS Onyx to the 1955 built Manxman, a fair representation of the ships Cammell Laird built throughout the 20th century still survive in preservation as the lasting legacy of this famous shipyard.

The Years of Uncertainty:

Cammell Laird continued in business as a public company until the Government took a 50% stake in 1972. The yard was subsequently nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders and then privatised and bought in 1983 by Vickers, the famous Barrow in Furness shipbuilders. Cammell Laird was designated as a shipyard only for building warships. Its last ship, the U class conventional submarine HMS Unicorn was completed in 1993. The yard was subsequently sold off to Coast Line Industries which built up a good business in ship repair and major conversions. However, the company changed its name back to Cammell Laird, such was the power of the name, and embarked on a bold plan of expansion, acquiring repair yards in France, USA and Gibraltar.

Sadly in the spring of 2000, Cammell Laird was forced into insolvency by the rejection of a new mid-ship section built to stretch Costa Line’s cruise ship Costa Classica. Hopes that the company could be saved were then pinned on the building of two new cruise ships for the American Luxus group but this order never materialised. The name Cammell Laird still survives at Gibraltar after that yard was bought by its directors to become reactivated as Cammell Laird Gibraltar Ltd. While the original Birkenhead yard is now in the hands of the successful A&P Group of ship repairers. However A&P Group only owns the northern part of the site comprising the fitting out basin and the drydocks, as the ship hall and the slipways in the southern part of the site is owned by Reddington Finance. This company recently announced radical plans to redevelop large areas of the southern part of the site including the 1978 built ship hall for a variety of uses thus bringing to an end forever the chance of reviving shipbuilding at the famous Cammell Laird shipyard at Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, UK.

In November 2004 a further development took place in the long running saga when a study commissioned by Wirral Council into the potential future of the Cammell Laird site concluded that shipbuilding and ship repair are not commercially viable. This seemed to give encouragement to Reddington Finance's controversial plans for the redevelopment of the site. For in December 2004 it was announced that Reddington Finance (owners of the southern part of the site) had now bought (for £30 million) the northern part of the yard previously owned by A&P Group and used by them and North Western Shiprepairers for ship repair work. This means that Reddington Finance now own all 140 acres of the former Cammell Laird shipyard site. However they are leasing back indefinitely the northern part of the site to A&P and North Western Shiprepairers so that they can continue undertaking ship repair work at the site for as long as this is viable. However Reddington don't seem to think that they will last long and seem keen for them to fail as they are developing redevelopment proposals for the northern part of the site ready for when the time comes for that part to be redeveloped as well! However the two ship repair companies believe that they have a strong future at the site and that the shipbuilding and repair industry is viable on Merseyside and has a promising long term future.

Reddington's £1 billion redevelopment proposals for the southern part of the site seem to focus on leisure, retail, entertainment, offices, luxury housing and ambitious schemes such as a snowdome and a relocated "Fourth Grace" (originally planned for the Liverpool Waterfront). However they seem keen to reassure people that their redevelopment plans for the northern half of the site when eventually freed up will focus on shipbuilding and maritime history perhaps comprising a visitor centre where people can learn about the shipbuilding industry and maritime history. Whether they will actually stick to this and keep their word is another matter entirely.

Recently there have been further developments in this saga of the former Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. In May 2005 Northwestern Shiprepairers bought A&P Birkenhead and took over the lease for the whole site that is still used for ship repair. Thus A&P Birkenhead’s operation was integrated into Northwestern Shiprepairer’s other operations in Bidston, Canada Drydocks and Clarence Drydocks elsewhere in Wirral and Liverpool. Thus Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd (NSL) started to revive the old shipyard.

Then on the 13^th July 2005 Reddington Finance submitted an outline planning application to Wirral Council for their redevelopment plans for the entire former shipyard site which is now entirely owned by them. They plan to transform the former shipyard with a variety of uses including commercial, residential, leisure and industrial facilities. About 4,500 homes are planned to be built and the area will be supplied by its own power station and served by a light rapid transport system. Expected to take 10-15 years to complete, the "town within a town" will see £1.4bn of investment on one of the prime development sites in the country. The colossal construction hall, which has long been an iconic feature of the site, will be retained and will contain snowdome facilities including an ice rink. The plan also incorporates marine engineering facilities along with a nautical college and the possibility of Liverpool John Moores University moving its maritime campus to the site. The site's heritage will also be acknowledged with a Cammell Laird museum. Ultimately, the plans will also include an island to be built in the Mersey which will provide parkland, river walkways and a wave energy facility. Also it seems likely that the vast wet basin will be substantially reduced in size and turned into a yacht marina. The entrance lock will be reduced in size as well considerably reducing the scope for the future for the site. Apparently they wish ship repair to continue at the site in the No. 4 and 5 drydocks. But it seems that the rest of the drydocks may be filled in. However Council officials expressed surprise and concern at the scale of the proposals which they thought would only encompass a small part of the site but instead actually are for the entire 140 acre shipyard site. However how much of these grandiose plans actually will come to fruition remains to be seen as there is expected to be considerable opposition to the plans from local politicians and the local community as well as the Council itself. It is expected that a full planning permission will be submitted to the Council in due course.

On the 14^th July 2005 Reddington further alarmed locals when they rescinded on their promise that ship repair will continue in perpetuity at the site when they made the shock announcement that Northwestern Shiprepairers (who use the north yard) have been chucked out and told to leave the site by the end of August 2005, despite the fact that their business is successful and they have a full order book. The ship repair company expressed their great disappointment at this decision and the future seems doubtful for ship repair at this once great Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. However Reddington claim to be in discussion with several other ship repairers.

However what will the local community make of all this, one can only wonder! Certainly it is a prime site of great importance to the people of Merseyside, but couldn't it be used more imaginatively than just another standard uninspiring retail, leisure, entertainment, office and residential development. Surely a vacant Cammell Laird shipyard containing a large wet basin and dry docks would make an ideal location for a national historic ship centre or at least a major maritime heritage cluster? Indeed this could create a great attraction for Wirral and help attract visitors and people to the area as well as providing much needed jobs, also the skills developed over so many years in the old shipyard could be retained to assist with maintaining the historic ships while also allowing scope for commercial work as required. For example it could perhaps be a suitable home for the Historic Warships Birkenhead, SS Manxman and other further historic ships that might be saved in the future?

Also the No 5 drydock at the site is one of the largest remaining in the UK and therefore is of strategic importance to the UK as the Royal Navy's proposed new large aircraft carriers (due to enter service after 2012) will need to be maintained and will require adequate drydock facilities around the UK to support them. The No 5 drydock at the Cammell Laird site (along with 4 others in the UK: King George V drydock in Southampton, Inchgreen drydock on the Clyde, the Harland & Wolff drydock in Belfast and the No 1 drydock at Babcock Rosyth) is one of only 5 in the UK that currently are large enough to cater for these new large aircraft carriers, as a result this is of great strategic importance and must be safeguarded in an operational state so that this important facility is there if required. We should safeguard our key shipyards and their skills as we need to at least have the capability to build and maintain our warships for the Royal Navy here in the UK rather than abroad, so these facilities and their skills are of strategic defence importance if nothing else. It is also useful to be able to build and maintain at least part of our merchant fleet as well and finally our country's shipyards and their skills are also essential to help maintain our historic ships and maritime heritage. Indeed historic ship restoration work can help sustain our shipyards and give them the flexibility to continue and have work even when there is a temporary lull in commercial work. Some of these sites could be developed also as environmental friendly ship recycling facilities where redundant ships can be dismantled in a safe and environmentally friendly way, indeed all British shipping companies should be encouraged to dispose of their ships in this way instead of on the beaches of China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (where most redundant ships seem to be scrapped these days) where swarms of people just pick the ships apart in very unsafe, hazardous, and uncontrolled conditions at great risk to the environment and the workers heath. However to enable this to be done more facilities such as the Able UK Ship Recycling Centre at Hartlepool need to be developed here in the UK. Thus via a combination of commercial shipbuilding / shiprepair, warship construction & maintenance, historic ship restoration & maintenance, and ship recycling etc there should be enough avenues of work to sustain all our key shipyards of strategic importance for many years to come.

Some of our key shipyards include:

Vosper Thornycroft Ltd, Portsmouth Naval Base, England, UK
Swan Hunter Ltd, Wallsend on Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
BAE Systems, Barrow in Furness, England, UK
BAE Systems, Scotstoun, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
BAE Systems, Govan, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Harland & Wolff Ltd, Queens Island, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Babcock Engineering Services, Rosyth Naval Base, Scotland, UK
Ferguson Shipbuilders, Port Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Former Cammell Laird shipyard, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, UK
King George V drydock, Southampton, England, UK
Inchgreen Drydock, Greenock, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Devonport Management Ltd (DML), Appledore Shipyard, Devon, England, UK
Devonport Management Ltd (DML), Devonport Naval Base, Plymouth, England, UK
Able UK Ltd, Graythorp Yard, Hartlepool, Teeside, England, UK
Able UK Ship Recycling, Graythorp Yard, Hartlepool, Teeside, England, UK

However our many smaller but equally important shipyards must not be overlooked or forgotten either, as they too are the key to the future. Our key shipyards and ship repair facilities are strategic assets and must be safeguarded. We must do everything possible to support their case and highlight their great strategic importance for the UK both now and in the future. This Cammell Laird site is one of these key strategic assets and must be safeguarded and protected from development that could jeopardise the use of this important facility and its No 5 drydock in the future.

We understand Reddington’s position from their perspective as a developer  but disagree with their plans vigorously and suggest that only part of the site should be redeveloped for other uses (the South Yard for example). The North Yard would make an ideal maritime heritage cluster and ship repair facility for commercial ships and historic ships. We are considerably alarmed at the scale of Reddington’s proposals and their lack of respect for the site’s history and its true potential.

In July 2006 Reddington Finance submitted a masterplan for the redevelopment of the southern part of the former shipyard to Wirral Council. It seems to have been approved as on the 14th July 2006 the demolition of the former engine shop at the former shipyard commenced. This building was a signature of the shipyard site as it stood alongside the fitting out basin and was emblasoned with the name Cammell Laird across its side. A sad end for a once renowned shipbuilder. This southern part of the shipyard was formerly the site of the slipways, ship hall and engine shop. The site will now be redeveloped for new uses including retail, luxury apartments, a snowdome (in the former Ship Hall) and offices. A riverside park will be created by extending the land into the river and there may be scope for some sort of maritime museum at the site. Fortunately the northern part of the shipyard site (the fitting out basin and dry docks) remains on long term lease to North Western Shiprepairers and as a result they remain in very active use as a ship repair yard.

In August 2006 the last remnent of the once great Cammell Laird disappeared as the administrators of Cammell Laird (after it went bankrupt in 2001) sold off the Cammell Laird trade name and trade mark thus extinguishing the last remnent of this once great shipyard.

On the 5^th September 2006 Reddington Finance announced further details of their £2 billion redevelopment plans for the former Cammell Laird shipyard site. The plans include an indoor ski slope, an extreme sports centre, a 4,000-seat convention centre (rivalling the one at Kings Waterfront on the Liverpool side?), luxury residential apartments and luxury hotels. Also a new concrete island would be built out into the River Mersey extending the site; the island would house offices, parkland and public open spaces. There also are plans to have a ferry terminal at the site with possibly a ferry service to Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Although there are difficulties with this as there is a massive sandbank in the river off the airport! Also there will be a major cruise terminal rivalling the one on the Liverpool side. The luxury residential apartments would be in towers up to 40 storeys high. Finally there are plans for a massive shopping development to rival the new Paradise Street quarter on the Liverpool side. There will also be a 1,200 berth marina and a iconic building housing a nautical college. A transport interchange will be created outside Green Lane railway station. The industrial legacy of Cammell Laird will be protected as the northern part of the shipyard will permanently continue in use as the ship repair yard for North Western Ship Repairers Ltd. However all mention of a proposed Cammell Laird maritime museum mentioned in past plans seems to have been dropped.

Frankly this scheme seems to just try and rival the Liverpool waterfront and rival its facilities with a convention centre, cruise terminal etc proposed all of which just duplicate facilities on the Liverpool side. With all the emphasis seemingly being on luxury hotels and apartments one wonders there anything in this scheme of relevance to the local people of Wirral? Or is this scheme just yet another one of those faceless, characterless, money making property development that we see all too often nowadays which tend to be out of touch with their local community and surroundings.

However Peel Holdings PLC who have their owns plans for the regeneration of the Birkenhead Docks nearby have announced their intention to try to buy the former Cammell Laird shipyard site from Reddington Finance. So we shall see whether anything comes of this grandiose redevelopment scheme.

In January 2007 it was announced that Peel Holdings PLC (owners of the Mersey Docks & Harbour Company) had purchased the former Cammell Laird shipyard from Reddington Finance. The deal is to be concluded by early February 2007. Therefore the lavish scheme proposed by Reddington Finance will now never be implemented. Cammell Laird is saved. Peel announced that they see the site as a valuable port facility and will respect its industrial heritage. As a result they do not intend to redevelop the shipyard site but instead will retain it as a working ship repair facility and for port related uses. North Western Shiprepairers Ltd (in which Peel has a significant holding) will continue to use the site as a major ship repair facility. Thus ends this uncertain chapter for the former Cammell Laird shipyard site.

The original Cammell Laird operation at the shipyard had closed in 1993 but was reopened as Cammell Laird under A & P Group in 1995 and once again became a thriving ship repair venture. But, in 2001, that company's Merseyside operation collapsed after a dispute over a £50m contract to lengthen the Italian cruise ship, Costa Classica. In 2001, Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd was founded as a ship repair and marine services business on Merseyside. The company soon moved into part of the former Cammell Laird docks and began its rapid growth. By May, 2007, it was turning over £42m and employing 500 people directly.Thus Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd (NSL) has done a fantastic job and has successfully built up a very enviable reputation in the refit, conversion and ship repair market in the UK. It then acquired the rights to the Cammell Laird name in 2007 but felt that it needed to continue to grow NSL to have the financial strength and credibility to justify rebranding the company as Cammell Laird and to live up to the reputation that name has.

In June 2008, Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd (NSL) based at the former Cammell Laird shipyard won a £180m contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to maintain 11 of its Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, which carry supplies around the world. If performance targets are met, the contract will be extended for another 25 years and the work could be worth up to £1bn to the shipyard.

The shipyard is also in line to build parts of the UK’s new aircraft carriers after it was approved as a “second-tier” supplier to the main contractors of the £3.9bn contract to build two 55,000 tonne vessels.

In October 2008 it signed a partnership deal with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, which is bidding to build six supply tankers under the MoD’s Military Afloat Reach Sustainability project. If the consortium wins the contract, two of those ships could be built at Cammell Laird.

The Revival of Cammell Laird:

Finally history at the Cammell Laird shipyard came full circle once again on the 17th November 2008 when Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd was finally renamed Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd. So once again the famous Cammell Laird name returns to the River Mersey to grace its famous shipyard.

Website Links:

Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd

(Revived Nov 2008, formerly known as Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd)

www.cammell-laird.com

Cammell Laird Archives, Wirral Museum, Birkenhead
www.wirral-libraries.net/archives/cl_archive.htm

Cammell Laird Football Club
www.cammelllairdfc.co.uk

Cammell Laird Gibraltar Ltd
www.lairds.gi

SS Manxman – The Manxman Steamship Company
www.ssmanxman.co.uk

HMS Onyx – Historic Warships Birkenhead
www.historicwarships.org

HMS Caroline (Belfast RNR) – The Royal Navy
www.royalnavy.mod.uk

Steam Tug Tender “Daniel Adamson”
www.danieladamson.com

“Huascar” ironclad turret ship, Talcahuano, Chile
http://members.lycos.co.uk/Juan39/PERUVIAN_MARITIME_CAMPAIGNS.html

USS Alabama

www.liverpool2007.org.uk/history/alabama/thealabama.htm

Port of Liverpool & Manchester Ship Canal

www.merseydocks.co.uk

"Mersey Mammoth" floating seagoing self propelled "240 tonne" crane

www.merseymammoth.co.uk

Peel Ports Ltd

www.peelports.co.uk

Peel Holdings PLC

www.peel.co.uk