Shipyards of the world

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I wonder how many of us have had the pleasure and the privilege of visiting shipyards?

My most wonderful and memorable visits were in 2010 and 2011 to the Odense Steel Shipyard in Lindø in Denmark, where the famous Emma Maersk and her sisters were built. The shipyard worked from 1917 to 2012, closing after Maersk moved their huge container ship production to Korea.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/albums/72157623881796760/

I was also lucky enough in 2013 to visit the STX Shipyard in Turku, Finland, before it was taken over by Meyer.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/albums/72157634269018452/

If you click into the photos, you may find some interesting text there.

It was quite an experience to see how these huge ships are built, no longer being "launched" like QE2, but eventually floated out (many months after my respective visits).

Looking forward to your own memories of shipyard visits!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jfqfbv

This documentary was broadcast this morning. It concerns the shipyard Fincantieri in Monfalcone (Italy), and specifically the Bangladeshi workers there whose hard work enables the ships to be built at much lower labour costs. These Bangladeshi workers are Muslims, and the local mayor is now objecting to them praying together and also playing the very un-Italian game of cricket!

Assignment: The Italian town where praying is a political issue
The Documentary Podcast

The Italian town of Monfalcone on the Adriatic coast has an ethnic make-up unique to the country. Of a population of just over thirty thousand, more than six thousand are from Bangladesh. They’ve come to help construct huge cruise ships, providing labour to do the type of manual jobs which Italians no longer want to do. For years, they worshipped at two Islamic centres in the town. Then, in November, the town’s far right mayor, Anna Maria Cisint, tried to effectively ban collective prayer there, along with stopping cricket - the Bangladeshi national sport - from being played within the town. She says she is defending Christian values. Her critics say she is building walls rather than bridges. For Assignment, Sofia Bettiza travels to Italy to discover how the country is dealing with the increasing numbers of legal migrants coming to work in a country which needs their labour.

[Chris Thompson]

In 2001 I spent several weeks working at Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St Nazaire. Fascinating place, I remember seeing steel being cut for the Queen Mary 2, they also had a huge mural of QM2 and QE2 arriving in New York in the main office building.
I was working on the Casino fit up on the Radisson Mariner, crazy environment as she was swarming with workers, all wearing blue shoe protectors
The Celebrity Infinity sailed out of the yard on completion and all work stopped as the workers admired their creation.
The equipment being used was of gargantuan proportions, one morning driving in we were held up by a Carnival Funnel crossing the road! It was sitting on a multi wheeled set of interlinked platforms and driven by a fella carrying a remote control.
The Canteen food was very good, although it was unusual to see Wine and Beer being served at lunch, the crane operators were indulging too....yoiks!

[Joann Scott]

Wonderful for hear about the shipyards and seeing photos from some including Denmark my homeland. Sad to hear on podcast about hiring people from other lands to cut costs. However it may help to keep some shipyards in place instead to totally moving them to other countries.

[June Ingram]

Not in the league of large ships, but I have made several visits over the years to The Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic CT. Preservation work is done primarily on wooden ships using as much as possible vintage tools.

[Rod]

Only while working, and they do vary a LOT in that respect!

[Andy Holloway]

Portsmouth Dockyard, Devonport Dockyard, Rosyth Dockyard, Gibraltar Dockyard, Lloyd Werft in Bremmerhaven, Marseille shipyard, they all have their own 'unique charm' about them, which i know from having done refits & maintenance periods in all of them over the last 56 years.

4 months in dry dock in Pompey certainly taught me how to 'skive' to an Olympic Standard. The crww didn't want ot be onboard and the 'dockies' certainly didn't want the crew around, so you sepnt most of the working day wandering around the dockyard, and Pompey Dcokyard is HUGE, going from 1 Fleet canteen to another. Most people used to carry some odd piece ship's of equipment with them as an 'excuse' for being around the Dockyard if anybody enquired! 
Mind you, you certainly made up for all that time 'wasted' when you got to sea as it was more than 24/7, more like 48/7!
But would i change anything, no way Hosea, it taught me to live life for today and never to regret things you did, you can't change them afterwards but  do learn from them.