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Shipyards
A new service from shipbuilder, Harland & Wolff, is to focus on its UK and Europe-wide sea freight, towage and workboat charter to clients in addition the dedicated fleet will provide support in the internal movement of structures between the Group’s yards in Belfast, Scotland and England.
Shipyard group, Harland & Wolff has formally commenced its marine services offering under Harland & Wolff (Marine Services) Ltd, this is part of its five-market, six-service business growth strategy. (HWMS), HWMS will be focussed on growing and maturing its UK…
Chemical tanker, Songa Crystal which required emergency repairs at Harland & Wolff, is seen at the Belfast Dry Dock, the smaller of two such facilities at the shipyard.
A Maltese flagged oil/chemical tanker which required emergency repairs is at the shipyard of Harland & Wolff, Belfast having arrived earlier this month, writes Jehan Ashmore. The 127m red hulled tanker, Songa Crystal called to Belfast Lough on 8 January…
Isles of Scilly Steamship Group has signed contracts with French shipbuilder group, Piriou of Concarneau, Brittany, to build in Vietnam, a new three deck passenger ferry Scillonian IV and a cargo vessel to serve the islands off Cornwall, England. The newbuilds replace veteran ferry Scillonian III and freighter, Gry Maritha on the Penzance-Hugh Town, St. Mary’s, Scilly route. The newbuilds are to be delivered in 2026. Afloat adds, the contract will strengthen Cornish-Breton ties as both Penzance and Concarneau, have been twin towns since 1982.
Operator, Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) has has signed landmark contracts with a French shipbuilding group, Piriou, which will secure the long-term future of passenger travel and freight supplies to and from the islands off Cornwall, England. The ISSG which…
The ship-repair division at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead experienced significant growth towards the end of 2023, up by 50% of same time last year, as more than 11 vessels arrived from new and returning customers. Among the callers was dredger, Freeway which had to temporarily go off service while on Waterford estuary, but returned to successfully complete the work last month.
The commercial ship repair division of shipbuilder, Cammell Laird, Birkenhead has experienced significant growth towards the end of 2023, as business was up by 50% when compared from this time last year. In the last two months alone, the facility…
CGI of newbuild twins, being built in Turkey for Calmac’s ferry routes to Islay / Jura, off the Mull of Kintyre are progressing well unlike Scottish shipyard tonnage. As at a Clyde shipyard, another second pair for the Arran service, are considerably delayed, as they were to enter service in 2018.
Under construction in Turkey, a ferry to serve Scottish west coast operator CalMac, it has emerged is on track to be delivered five years faster than the second of a pair involved in the fiasco at the nationalised shipyard Ferguson…
UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps who is also the government's shipbuilding tsar, has written a letter to the chairman of the Council of the Isles of Scilly over the decision by the ISSG to go overseas and order a new ferry and cargo ship with a French shipbuilder, albeit both vessels will be built in Asia. The new tonnage is to replace the seasonal ferry, Scillonian III and year-round freighter, Gry Maritha, which serve between Penzance and the islands off Cornwall.
The UK Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps has intervened in a row over the shipyard which the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) has decided to order a contract with a French firm for its new fleet. In a letter written, BBC…
In this scene taken in the early hours, newbuild Arklow Ranger, an Eco-Trader 6,800dwt class cargo ship, departed a Dutch inland shipyard to Eemshaven so to undergo sea trials in the North Sea.
In an update on Arklow Ranger, the fourth of seven Dutch shipyard completed Eco-Traders of the 6,800dwt / R class cargo ships, departed last month from its inland location to reach a seaport, writes Jehan Ashmore. An Autumnal launch of…
Work is underway at Harland & Wolff’s Appledore shipyard, Devon, England on the construction of a specialist cable barge which is to serve the requirements of the UK’s Royal Navy at Portsmouth.
Belfast shipbuilder, the Harland & Wolff Group have cut the first steel on a new cable barge it is building for defence contractor KBS Maritime of Portsmouth from where the vessel will be located at the UK’s main naval base.…
Harland & Wolff, the Belfast based shipyard group, chooses not to increase its bid to buy Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, which operates Scillonian III to the archipelago off Cornwall on a seasonal basis along with a year-round freight run between Penzance-St. Mary’s, Scilly. The Scillonian III was built in 1977 in neighbouring Devon, at Appledore Shipbuilders Ltd. In recent years AFLOAT adds, the yard was acquired by the Harland & Wolff Group.
Shipyard firm Harland & Wolff based in Belfast has decided not to make a formal bid to buy the passenger ferry and freight-company, which operates to the Isles of Scilly off Cornwall. In an initial approach by H&W to acquire…
With shipyards in Belfast, Arnish in Scotland and Appledore, England, the Harland & Wolff Group this week reached the milestone of 1,000 employees that includes delivery centres and commercial sites.
With its largest shipyard based in Belfast, the Harland & Wolff Group has announced that it has reached 1,000 employees across the company's facilities on both sides of the Irish Sea.  The international shipbuilding and marine engineering business continues to actively…
The new Mersey ferry, according to Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram has confirmed that the new vessel would solely be built on Merseyside. This is to take place at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead and will be the first new ferry in 60 years, and as the Liverpool Echo reports is to cost in the region of £26m with a delivery due in 2025.
The shipyard which built the UK's polar research ship, RRS Sir David Attenborough, Cammell Laird is to construct the first new Mersey ferry in 60 years, in a move which marks a major milestone for the shipbuilder. Located at Birkenhead…
Shipyard visit, as the UK Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn MP is seen at Harland & Wolff, Belfast, on the day same that the Labour Party announced a commitment to build all government vessels across shipyards in the UK, should they be elected into an administration.
A visit to Harland & Wolff Group’s Belfast shipyard took place recently by the UK Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn MP. The visit according to Harland & Wolff came on the same day that the Shadow…
Aasen Shipping orders three new hybrid powered methanol-ready self-dischargers/cargo ships from Dutch shipbuilder, Royal Bodewes. The Norwegian shipping company operate self-discharging ships for transporting bulk cargo and break bulk cargo among them to Irish Ports. Loading/discharging, is carried out by the ship’s crew using an excavator mounted above the hold. Among their existing tonnage, AFLOAT add is Aastind which at time of writing, today, is at anchor in Dublin Bay having sailed from Rotterdam (Botlek), The Netherlands. Another fleetmate, Aasli last month made a brief call to Belfast having received work at Harland & Wolff.
Aasen Shipping of Norway which has a fleet of self-discharging cargo ships which call to Irish Ports, has ordered from a Dutch shipyard for three new hybrid powered methanol-ready self-dischargers. Delivery of the vessels from shipbuilder, Royal Bodewes to Assen…
An approach from the Belfast based shipyard group, Harland & Wolff to the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) have been ‘unequivocally’ rebuffed. In recent years, H&W acquired Devon’s Appledore shipyard, which AFLOAT adds in 1977 built Scillonian III, which has served for 46 years is to be replaced by a newbuild constructed overseas. The passenger seasonal service ended recently, however the ISSG also operate a year-round ‘Skybus’ airplane service to the archipelago.
The south-west England operator running between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has “unequivocally rejected” a takeover bid from the Belfast based shipbuilder Harland and Wolff (H&W), reports Business Live. Bosses at the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG), which…
A shipyard on Merseyside is where workers at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, have voted to strike in a row over pay and conditions.
Workers at a Merseyside shipyard which built the UK polar research ship, RRS Sir David Attenborough, have voted to strike in a row over pay and conditions. Electricians, pipe-fitters and welders and others at Cammell Laird shipyard on Birkenhead, are…
Twin newbuild ferries being built for CalMac’s Arran route on the Forth of Clyde could be worth only a ‘fraction’ of what Scottish taxpayers have spent on their construction, Holyrood was told.
Twin newbuild ferries that are delayed and overbudget at a shipyard in Scotland and which are to serve Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) could be worth a “fraction” of the £360m taxpayers have spent on them when they are finally completed, MSPs have…

Shipyards

Afloat will be focusing on news and developments of shipyards with newbuilds taking shape on either slipways and building halls.

The common practice of shipbuilding using modular construction, requires several yards make specific block sections that are towed to a single designated yard and joined together to complete the ship before been launched or floated out.

In addition, outfitting quays is where internal work on electrical and passenger facilities is installed (or upgraded if the ship is already in service). This work may involve newbuilds towed to another specialist yard, before the newbuild is completed as a new ship or of the same class, designed from the shipyard 'in-house' or from a naval architect consultancy. Shipyards also carry out repair and maintenance, overhaul, refit, survey, and conversion, for example, the addition or removal of cabins within a superstructure. All this requires ships to enter graving /dry-docks or floating drydocks, to enable access to the entire vessel out of the water.

Asides from shipbuilding, marine engineering projects such as offshore installations take place and others have diversified in the construction of offshore renewable projects, from wind-turbines and related tower structures. When ships are decommissioned and need to be disposed of, some yards have recycling facilities to segregate materials, though other vessels are run ashore, i.e. 'beached' and broken up there on site. The scrapped metal can be sold and made into other items.