Shipyard left high and dry after pounds 51m liner deal is halted

The people most surprised were the 30 Cammell Laird workers on the cruise ship Costa Classica, who were heading for home yesterday off the coast of Spain and looking forward to tomorrow's launch of a huge new section for the ship at their yard in Birkenhead. Alerted by company executives, union...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Guardian (London)
Main Author David Gow and Angelique Chrisafis
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Guardian News & Media Limited 25.11.2000
Subjects
Contracts
Shipbuilding
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Summary:The people most surprised were the 30 Cammell Laird workers on the cruise ship Costa Classica, who were heading for home yesterday off the coast of Spain and looking forward to tomorrow's launch of a huge new section for the ship at their yard in Birkenhead. Alerted by company executives, union leaders and local MPs began a series of crisis meetings late on Thursday to salvage the contract to build and fit a 45-metre extension to the 56,000-ton Costa Classica - cutting it in half and inserting the new section in the middle. It is billed as the world's biggest ever cruise ship conversion. Behind Cammell Laird's giant metal dock bays sat the 26,000-tonne midsection. It was beached on the dry dock with its funnels lit with a string of lights like a stranded Christmas cruise ship waiting for a bow and stern. Across the Mersey, Liverpool's two vast cathedrals looked tiny in comparison.
ISSN:0261-3077