Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd
The last family run shipyard

This picture was uploaded to Clydesite on 19th April and shows the latest newbuilds on the slip at Ferguson Shipbuilders by Gerry Deegan.

For over 100 years, a family run concern has been building ships on the Clyde. Admittedly not the same family, and there have been periods where it has been part of other companies, but now, under the stewardship of a Clyde family, the Dunnets, Ferguson Shipbuilders has endured some of the worst periods of the Clyde's history.

Due to launch another ship today, Thursday 28th April 2005, ( mv JURA, a fisheries protection vessel, on the 28th April ) will they ride out the current crisis in shipbuilding?

It has been 10 years since, as it was called then, Ferguson Marine, was bought out by Holland House with a bid of £4.9M. The previous board was replaced by Mr Frank Dunnet, Chairman, and Mr Alan Dunnet, Chief Executive. I have heard that the older Mr Dunnet had said he always wanted to own a shipyard.

In that time the yard has seen phenomenal successes and periods of intense anxiety. We approach one again ten years on.

It is the little yard that gets little attention. The bigger players on the upper river at Govan and Scotstoun, carry extreme weight socially and politically. The slightest whiff of a problem with orders, and politicians tremble. Ferguson's seems to be the Cinderalla yard, but she is no drab.

Look at the list of ships that have slid down her cramped slipway in the past ten years. Each of these means work to hundreds of men and women and the suppliers who provide equipment and services to the yard. I have been at a few of these launches and the pride that each worker there feels manifests itself to such a degree, you really do feel a lump in your throat and tears spring to your eye as the crowds cheer, the bagpipes play and you watch the thread of history continuing.

Shipbuilding is unlike any other industry. It is an emotional industry, producing machines that will sail for twenty, thirty, maybe more years. And these machines mean something to all the people they affect. The pride of the shipbuilder is to know that - they are not making something you can throw away, it's built to last and you are part of it's history.

On one of my visits to the yard, I was shown round by Mr Dave McCullagh, a quiet man, and as he explained the intricacies of a launch you felt that for him this was not just a job. Up in the offices was the manager, a bluff no nonsense man. All around were workers, quietly going on with their work - steel cutters, plate rollers, welders and all manner of tradesmen. The quiet pride was tangible, real - understated but profoundly there.

Come launch day, it's a time to celebrate. But briefly. The work has only just begun as a different set of workers do the fitting out, the painting and later, the trials. Meanwhile the steel cutters are beginning the next vessel. Hopefully too the designers are working away at the vessel to come after that. Whilst the people charged with the nerve-racking task of submitting tenders work as best they can to hammer out winning proposals. It has to be that way - you can't be idle in a shipyard, especially in these days of fierce, low-cost competition.

The first launch I attended was the STIRLING IONA on the 28th September 1999. It was a glorious day indeed, the sun shone, all the right dignitaries were there, the school band, and the launch platform tarted up for the occasion. From my vantage point above the entrance gate I could sense the excitement in young and old and when she slid into the water I felt my heart thump with pride. And I had nothing to do with the building of it - I was there to take photies!

Friends with me, who prior to this day had no interests in ships whatsover, felt it too and said it was the most emotional event they had been to in years. They now understood my own passion for ships and shipbuilding on the Clyde.

Since then I have seen two further launches, and the feeling is always the same. Sheer pride.

This affects the communities around the shipyard, knowing that the name of their town, in this case Port Glasgow, is proudly displayed on the ships builders plate as the vessel runs the course of its life around the UK, maybe even around the globe.

But the yard now is nearing yet another crisis point. Difficulties procuring new contracts from their mainstay customers such as The Northern Lighthouse Board and Caledonian MacBrayne, with their recent orders going to Polish shipyards, means that after this launch, there is only one to go, the last of the Torpoint ferries. Little work will remain for the steelcutters and welders, and none for the designers.

Recently we should have heard about another fisheries vessel and a second vessel to accompany the recently launched mv BUTE from Poland, but as yet nothing has been heard.

34 temporary workers have already been sent their redundancy notices and there are very real fears this could only be the start of lay offs as work dries up.

Usually at a launch the opportunity is taken to announce new orders.

Let us hope this happens today, to give the yard some hope for the future.