Cammell Laird recruits to fill gaps

RELAUNCHED Merseyside shipyard Cammell Laird is recruitment 20 extra apprentices to fill its “huge” skills gap.

Cammell Laird HR manager Danny Hart said that the recruitment drive, which takes the total number of apprentices to 49, is essential if the company is to meet its commercial obligations.

“There is a huge skills gap we need to fill,” he said. “Historically this shipyard has built its reputation on the quality of its workmanship, so the skills of our workforce are absolutely critical to the future success of Cammell Laird.”

Skills needed include plating, welding, pipe fitting, and mechanical engineering. The apprenticeship programme will be coordinated at Maritime & Engineering College Northwest, which is adjacent to the shipyard.

The company has pre-qualified for the construction of large sections of the £3.8bn construction project of two new 65,000 tonne aircraft carriers – the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy.

If it wins the contracts it will have to significantly increase the number of staff at the shipyard, where it currently employs around 450 people full-time but, including contract workers, has employed around 1,000 in the last year.

Cammell Laird closed its gates in 2001 after going into receivership. In the seven intervening years a small group of Cammell Laird’s former managers built up a new company at the shipyard – Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders.

In November, the management team decided to bring back the Cammell Laird name, having established itself in the UK ship repair, conversion and military refit market, with a forecasted turnover of £90m and a full order book.