Liverpool: Building new Mersey ferry overseas a betrayal

Building a new Mersey ferry in a shipyard in the Netherlands is a “complete betrayal” of workers on Merseyside, a union has said.

However, Unite said government tendering rules meant most of the work would be done by Dutch firm Damen.

The government has been approached for a comment.

LCR Mayor Steve Rotheram said the authority had “tried at every turn” to “squeeze as much local value, investment and opportunity”.

Mr Rotheram said he understood Unite’s “frustrations with the government’s restrictive procurement laws”.

In a joint statement with the six LCR council leaders, he said: “It is for the shipbuilder to decide how and where it subcontracts out work.

“We are explicitly restricted by legislation from specifying that 100% of any works have to be built in any specific locality.”

The authority added it was “good news” this “brand new, greener lower emissions vessel” would continue the “proud legacy of the ferry cross the Mersey”.

The collaboration between Cammell Laird and Damen “should help deliver employment and development opportunities for workers…as well as tapping into international expertise and delivering value for money for local taxpayers”, the statement said.

However, Unite said despite being capable of taking on the whole project, the Birkenhead shipyard would only actually undertake the refurbishment of the existing ferry and some final work on the new craft.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said it was “a complete betrayal of a local and highly skilled workforce”.

She said: “It defies belief that a new Mersey ferry won’t be built on the river the ship will serve.

“This is a wholesale failure of the government’s procurement policy which continues to undermine strategic British industries and threatens jobs and skills.”

The union added that if Cammell Laird had been awarded the whole contract, it would have secured 120 jobs at the shipyard for up to 18 months.

David McGinley, the shipbuilder’s chief executive, said he could not comment on an ongoing procurement process.

But he said that as the main contractor, the firm was “looking forward to playing its part” in delivering the next Mersey ferry and “supporting shipbuilding and hundreds of jobs” across the region.

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