Shipmaker hopes for plain sailing

By Steven Duke
BBC News, Liverpool

Shipbuilding is undergoing something of a global boom at present

"We're going to target the international market," says John Syvret, the man who is orchestrating a revival in Liverpool's historic dockyards.

He runs Northwestern Shipbuilders, a ship repair service that is based at the site of the Cammell Laird dockyard.

The company picked up the pieces of Cammell Laird after it went into administration seven years ago, and has transformed it into a firm with annual sales in excess of £50m.

"We're no longer a shipbuilder, we're a ship repair shop.

"We're like a car garage on the side of the motorway," explains Mr Syvret, who began his working life as a steel worker at Cammell Laird in the 1970s.

His business may well be just the sort - flourishing in a once run-down area of the UK - that Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England was referring to when he suggested that bright spots remain in the economy.

During his latest inflation briefing, Mr King urged the assembled journalists to look beyond the gloomy news coming from the City of London's banking sector, and recognise there is still growth out there.

"The difference between the mood in the financial sector and property sector, and the rest of the economy is still extremely marked," the governor said.

'Significant market'

Backing up Mr King's claims, Mr Syvret points out that his firm has just taken on 16 new apprentices, and by the summer they expect the workforce on the dock to be up from 700 to almost 1,000.

"We've developed this business into one of the most successful ship repairers in the UK," Mr Syvret boasts.

Sales at the dockyard have grown from £9m in 2002, to over £40m last year. A recently won £28m contract from the Ministry of Defence to overhaul one of its ships ensures this year's turnover should breach £50m.

But Mr Syvret is keen to stress that the company is not just a government supplier - the split of work between government and commercial is now half and half.

And, now the company is looking overseas for further growth.

"Internationally there is a significant market out there, and we've not really tapped that yet," he stresses.

Stretching profits

As well as the ship repair service, Northwestern is looking at winning more overseas contracts to expand ships. Lengthen a ship by 30 meters, and the work can be worth upwards of £15m.

And on the international stage, the Bank of England boss Mr King said he expected a weakening pound would help companies like Northwestern enjoy continued growth.

"It's going to provide a further advantage to us," admits Mr Syvret, adding that skilled local labour was also a strong selling point.

Parts of the UK may be suffering from falling house prices, rising food prices may be dominating the headlines, but at Northwestern's dock yard, the waters are far from choppy.

"I can only speak from this shipyard, but from where we are, the business is building year on year," Mr Syvret concludes.