Life in Shipyards

[danger70]

Dear friends and seniors,
I am COC Class IV (India) holder and i got a call from shipyard in India. Could you please tell that is it wisable to switch to shipyard industry. How is life over there and pro and cons of the same.

[GuinnessMan]

Dear friends and seniors,
I am COC Class IV (India) holder and i got a call from shipyard in India. Could you please tell that is it wisable to switch to shipyard industry. How is life over there and pro and cons of the same.

Depends on which yard and what job they want you to do there...

[pignutpilot]

Despite once being the biggest producer of ships in the world around the middle of the 20th century, there are hardly any ships built in the UK now. Most of the shipyards have been turned into land for flats or offices. Our inefficient out of date yards just couldn't compete with the efficiency and quality of the likes of Norway, and also the far east where labor is cheaper.

Given that most of the people on here are relatively young it's unlikely that they would have much knowledge of actually working in a ship yard , you would have to talk to people aged 60 years plus.

Give Billy Connolly a shout he once worked in a ship yard.

[Steve]

Given that most of the people on here are relatively young it's unlikely that they would have much knowledge of actually working in a ship yard , you would have to talk to people aged 60 years plus.

Nonsense! There are still several shipbuilding yards around the UK, and even more shiprepairers. I expect most OC members have had occasion to frequent shipyards, most ships do need the occasional spot of repair and/or maintenance.

[Faust]

My employers will only dry dock their ships in the UK!

There is indeed many yards around the country.

[pignutpilot]

From the most reliable source on the internet, Wikipedia:

" Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial construction."

I'd go as far and say next to no privately built large commercial vessels are built in the UK anymore. You may still get the odd small ferry or naval vessels built in the country, but the once booming commercial side is now negligible.

[Steve]

From the most reliable source on the internet, Wikipedia:

" Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial construction."

Well, Wikipedia is definitive, innit! "Dockyard" is most commonly associated with the Royal Dockyards, which no longer exist as such. They were usually co-located with naval bases, hence the reference to 'basing activities' in the Wikipedia entry. Referencing something to do with the naval side of things is irrelevant to your further (factually accurate) arguments on commercial shipbuilding. Furthermore, much naval ship construction was carried out in the Royal Dockyards, so the (very woolly and weaselly) definition given is not really accurate.

Whilst commercial shipbuilding is all but dead in the UK, there are commercial shiprepair yards and naval shipbuilding yards (I can think of at least four still doing final assembly, without listing every site that builds modules).

[pignutpilot]

It's a real shame after having had such a rich history of building ships that so many yards have gone.

Other European countries seem to have done better at keeping theirs open, Germany,France, Italy and especially Poland, so it can't all be down to just cheaper labour. The Norwegians, who are paid substantial better wages than UK workers, are still constructing quite a lot of high quality high tech vessels. Maybe this is a market we should have gone for, but many UK shipbuilders had a reputation of building vessels over budget, behind schedule and to a low quality. BP had an old tanker that was built on the Clyde, which was know as the Banana boat or something, because if you stood down aft and looked up forward, she wasn't quite straight.

[Steve]

it can't all be down to just cheaper labour.

Subsidies (direct or indirect) and other government support are an important factor. The time things really collapsed in the UK were the 70s/80s, along with a lot of other 'traditional' industries.

[pignutpilot]

Subsidies (direct or indirect) and other government support are an important factor. The time things really collapsed in the UK were the 70s/80s, along with a lot of other 'traditional' industries.

Thatcher?

[YoungMariner]

Even now, the UK is continuing to build ships over budget and behind schedule. Two corvettes ordered for the country I work in are now overdue.
That being said, Devonport had a success with the large yacht Vava II, but we are no where near as capable as the Germans.

Whilst I'm a supporter of unions, the fact remains that bad British Management and unions destroyed the UK yards.

[bobofinga]

Only yards I know of in the UK these days are dry. The ones in Scotland (Leith and Aberdeen) that I've been in , are booked up for months in advance.