Ferguson shipyard in Inverclyde, which was rescued on Wednesday by engineering tycoon Jim McColl, could learn as early as the end of this week whether it will win its first contract.
McColl told the Sunday Herald that an unnamed UK company wanting to commission a newbuild ferry was the rescued yard's first potential customer. "I am hoping that we will hear about this contract by the end of next week although it might be early the following week," he said.
The Monaco-based businessman added that he expected Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), which owns west coast ferries, ports and harbours, to put out tenders for two 100-metre ferries within the next few weeks and that the relaunched shipyard would be putting in competitive bids to build those ships.
McColl revealed that the previous management of the Port Glasgow shipyard had been unable to tender for a number of major contracts as it had been unable to provide the financial bonds required by clients without recourse to borrowing.
This would not be a problem for the new company, McColl said. But in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the difficulties that many small to medium-sized companies experience in raising bonds is hampering economic recovery. It is likely that this could only be addressed by Government schemes targeted at SMEs.
The UK Government's export credit guarantee scheme was helpful for companies without the necessary capital, but can only be used for exports. What is needed, McColl said, is for the UK or Scottish governments to follow countries like Canada and France that provide state backing for companies needing to raise bonds.
The comments were made following the purchase on Wednesday of the Ferguson shipyard to McColl's Clyde Blowers Capital for an undisclosed sum. The purchase of Scotland's last commercial shipbuilder was completed four weeks after the shipyard was called into administration with the loss of 77 jobs after it experienced "significant cash-flow pressure" and a lack of orders.
McColl's company won preferred bidder status to take over the yard, which has been in business on the lower Clyde for more than a century.
The deal includes the business and assets of Newark Joiners Limited and Ferguson-Ailsa Limited and the new company will be known as Ferguson Marine Engineering.
At a press conference on Thursday, McColl said that 30 of the workers who lost their jobs at the yard had been taken on again and the number of workers would rise to 80 by November.
By the beginning of next year, McColl hopes the workforce will have risen to around 110 employees and, all going well, this could expand to 200 to 300 within three years.
McColl estimates investing around £8 million in the yard in the short-term with the possibility of putting in up to £60m in medium to long-term.
Top of McColl's agenda will be bringing more work into the yard and diversifying the yard's product offering to include the building of specialist ships for the oil and gas offshore industry and offshore wind farms.
The new company aims to widen its activities beyond conventional shipbuilding to include marine engineering products. As an example, McColl says the yard is well-placed to start building components for renewable energy projects, such as the seabed holding frames for tidal energy devices.
There are only two other shipyards in the UK with a similar capacity to the Ferguson yard, McColl said. Investing in heavier lifting gear would allow the new company to increase the maximum length of the ships it builds from a current maximum length of 100m to 120m. This would allow the yard to tender for a wider range of ships.
Another priority will be strengthening the management team of the new company and bringing in naval architects and design experts. "We are confident we can build a strong business here," he said.
McColl said he was upbeat about demand for new ships, which he expects to rise over the coming years as shipping companies in the UK and Europe replace ageing fleets to comply with new EU rules on sulphur emissions from ships.
Over the next 10 years, CMAL will be spending £240m on replacing Caledonian MacBrayne-operated ferries and the new company will be ideally placed to bid for that work as well as maintenance and upgrading work.
Asked whether competition from low-cost shipyards in Asia - which have been blamed for the closure of many shipbuilders in Europe - would hamper his ambitions, McColl said it was hard to compete with Korean and Chinese yards for the building of large ships.
The good news for shipbuilders in Europe, he said, is that the mega-shipyards of Asia, some of which produce up to 60 ships a year, are almost exclusively interested in building large ships.
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