[BITList] Glasgow's last shipyard Ferguson Shipbuilderssettoclose | UK news | The Guardian

[HUGH]

Mike,

I have every confidence that, in some developer's office, there is already a set of drawings and bumf setting out the advantages of buying a semi in Ferguson View. There's Newark Castle to the east, with much trees and greenery beyond, and an expanse of riverside greenery to the west that used to be the Wet Dock that ceased to be a wet dock c1839 (barely a month or two into its life) through the failure of the gate. Unfortunately, there's the Fire Station in between.  There are indeed extensive views of the river and the firth.  The latest move in the situation is that the McGill brothers, local multi millionaires and bus tycoons, have expressed an interest in the yard as a going concern and set in motion whatever one sets in motion in such cases. I leave them to it, and I wish them the best of luck.

The only way the yard could reopen is if it were to be handed an order by the government, I don't care which one,  for something that does not require anything within a thousand miles of even moderate design work up (in a normal market situation, an owner wouldn't ask for a quotation from a yard with no staff and next to no expertise), and managed to get staff of the right mix very quickly. As matters stand, a skeleton staff of about 5, paid by I've no idea who, are within the yard - everyone else of the few who had stuck it out till the closure was sacked, and they are free agents, so there's no absolute guarantee that the right people would come back to order, nor is there any guarantee that the right people are to hand elsewhere.  When I was in my second spell with Scotts in Greenock, they were told twice, once by the MOD and again by the owners of a drillship, that their DO manning levels weren't up to the contract requirements.  Cue large numbers of staff coming in. Airy fairy optimism and vague resolves from people totally ignorant of what's involved only builds up hopes.

During my first spell with Fergusons, early 60s, I was designing aspects of the business end of a bucket dredger when, out of the blue, myself and another were given a month's notice, some cloud on the business horizon having been perceived.  Not long after we departed they were scrabbling around for staff and failing to get any. By then I'd joined Babcock and Wilcox, so I wasn't available.  Hell mend them, was the attitude in the area, and so it just might be, to some extent, in the current situation.

Hugh.
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