On the first day of the inaugural UK-Ireland Summit with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday in Liverpool, the British PM also visited Merseyside shipbuilder Cammell Laird, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The APCL Group welcomed Keir Starmer to its facility in Birkenhead after the UK government’s announcement that it will increase defense expenditure to 2.5 % of GDP by April 2027.
The British Prime Minister saw firsthand the programmes APCL delivers and found out about Cammell Laird’s shipbuilding and ship repair/maintenance capabilities. Currently in dry-dock is Seatruck Progress of European short-sea ro-ro operator CLdN which recently completed a multi-million upgrade in Liverpool Docks to boost capacity on its route to Dublin Port.
During the tour, Mr. Starmer met apprentices working on the UK’s Royal Navy’s Type 26/City frigates, where the group’s shipyards are delivering units for the 3rd and 4th frigates, HMS Belfast and HMS Birmingham, which are programmes delivered on behalf of shipbuilder BAE Systems.
Also aptly in construction at the northwest England shipyard is the first Mersey Ferry to be built in 60 years, and almost a decade ago, they built Strangford II which runs the ferry link to Portaferry on the Ards Peninsula.
In addition to Mr. Starmer's tour of the Mersey new build, this was followed by a visit to the RFA Tidespring, an auxiliary replenishment vessel that serves the requirements of the Royal Navy, whose HMS Tyne across the Irish Sea had berthed in Belfast since Wednesday. Also in port was yet another connection with the Tyne, as the newbuild Artemis pilot cutter, is to enter service for the Port of Tyne towards the end of the year.
Currently, Cammell Laird has 171 apprentices in training; however, this figure is set to rise to 200 by September. Such a development is at the forefront of the UK prime minister’s agenda, of which APCL welcomed his commitment.
The workforce and staff were invited for a Q&A where they had an opportunity to ask Mr. Starmer about the future of UK shipbuilding, defence spending and plans for ensuring young people and women are encouraged into the industry.
