the mini budget up-date

[James Curry]

#60 BP had a class of 4 ships built in the 1980's British Skill & Succes built at H&W, British Spirit bulit by Scott Lithgow and the British Achiever built at Swan Hunters.
I sailed on 3 of these vessels all I can say is there was not a lot of SKILL or SUCCESS and you certainly needed be of good SPIRIT and have a great work ethic to be an ACHIEVER on any of these vessels. Old fashioned and out of date before they even entered service.
It was either the Spirit or the Achiever that had an offset to the steering as she crabbed sideways the bow and the stern were 5 degs out of alignment. BP manned that one with Aussie crews.

[Jim R Christie]

The demise of the red duster was Uk joining the EU. this meant any goods coming from commonwealth courtiers was taxed but from Europe free.
THis meant that the cargoes stopped and UK fleet was worthless and put some companies and most shipyards bankrupt.
The availability and cost of air travel happened at the same time which put passenger ships at a disadvantage.
A lot like I, went to colonies and got good work at good rates of pay. Never looked back.

The rot started long before we even thought of joining the EEC.
It should be remembered that most of our fleet was in use trading to our colonies, generally taking UK manufactured goods there and bringing raw materials/foodstuffs back - as they were under British rule they had no choice but to trade with us.
Once those countries were independent they were then free to trade with whom they wished and start their own shipping lines as why get a British ship to do it when they could have their own people and ships doing it instead, or indeed a cheaper FOC?
Regardless of what happened with Europe the MN was always doomed to go on a downward spiral, particularly after the '66 strike which destroyed a lot of goodwill.

[Jim R Christie]

#60 BP had a class of 4 ships built in the 1980's British Skill & Succes built at H&W, British Spirit bulit by Scott Lithgow and the British Achiever built at Swan Hunters.
I sailed on 3 of these vessels all I can say is there was not a lot of SKILL or SUCCESS and you certainly needed be of good SPIRIT and have a great work ethic to be an ACHIEVER on any of these vessels. Old fashioned and out of date before they even entered service.
It was either the Spirit or the Achiever that had an offset to the steering as she crabbed sideways the bow and the stern were 5 degs out of alignment. BP manned that one with Aussie crews.

James,
It was the Achiever which was famously bent, they did try sorting her out in Sembewang not long after delivery but she was never right.
The Aussies had her for 15 years and basically wrecked her in the process. BP (UK) got her back in '98 and she spent over 3 months in drydock in Dubai being put right, followed by another 6 months or so where the engineers were kept on watches (she was supposed to be a UMS ship) due to the deplorable state of the fire detection system and alarm system. A lot of money, blood and sweat eventually got her up to the same standard as the other three which - as you state - was pretty dreadful.
The Spirit was one of the worst ships I ever sailed in, build quality was atrocious. I think it was her where during commissioning the yard staff and contractors tried flashing up one of the Babcock boilers with about 3 tonnes of fuel oil in the bottom of the furnace...
It was no surprise to anyone that that class were the last ships ever built in the UK for BP.

[J Gowers]

#55 Slightly of the subject but my Dad who was a mechanical fitter and was in a reserved occupation during the war, he worked in a factory building tanks in Dalmuir near Clydebank and he used to go out when they were testing the tanks in the countryside somewhere South of Glasgow. He says he saw one tank hit a bump and the side fell off the tank and you guessed it the fillet weld was packed with welding rods with a few runs of weld over the top, I think he told me the welders were on piece work so were paid for the amounts of weld they ran so packing it with welding rods was a quick way to earn more cash, pity the poor squaddies who had to use the tank in the battlefield.

[vic mcclymont]

Of the thousands of ships turned out by British Shipbuilders a few woul have problems.
If quality was so bad as inferred why did shipownerr return again again to their preferred builder?

[Tony Taylor]

This sort of thing has always gone on and occurs everywhere. I have seen in various yards and other jobs since coming ashore to varying degrees.
Between 04 and 06 were supplying kit to a large petrochem project in China, where our gear was being installed by subcontractors who were supervised by our Chinese agents project engineers, On one visit I discovered a blatant "dodge" carried out by one of the subbies, I pointed it out to our agents' guy and asked him if he had seen it, yes, he said but they threatened to break my legs if I reported it.
Today I had a message from the companys' tech support guy who has been in China for the last month on a new build offshore platform for BP, to monitor the work.
BP is very happy with his work but he has filed so many non compliance reports that the yard and the contractor want him out. They just want the job out the door and BP can sort the problems later.
Exact same scenario on last job BP did in Korea, our guys banned from the yard (Hyundai) and Bp had to take the asset to Norway to get all the faults sorted before they could take it to the location. Estimated cost just for paint and insulation faults £3million, many other issues on other areas.

[James Curry]

Of the thousands of ships turned out by British Shipbuilders a few woul have problems.
If quality was so bad as inferred why did shipownerr return again again to their preferred builder?

They did not return again and again, certainly not in the 60's Blue funnel being one such company , the Super P class vessel were not a patch on the same class that the Japanese yards produced. With the advent of OCL the first in class I believe was the Encounter bay and German yards got the orders I believe right through to the Tokyo Bay ckass vessels.

[James Curry]

James,
It was the Achiever which was famously bent, they did try sorting her out in Sembewang not long after delivery but she was never right.
The Aussies had her for 15 years and basically wrecked her in the process. BP (UK) got her back in '98 and she spent over 3 months in drydock in Dubai being put right, followed by another 6 months or so where the engineers were kept on watches (she was supposed to be a UMS ship) due to the deplorable state of the fire detection system and alarm system. A lot of money, blood and sweat eventually got her up to the same standard as the other three which - as you state - was pretty dreadful.
The Spirit was one of the worst ships I ever sailed in, build quality was atrocious. I think it was her where during commissioning the yard staff and contractors tried flashing up one of the Babcock boilers with about 3 tonnes of fuel oil in the bottom of the furnace...
It was no surprise to anyone that that class were the last ships ever built in the UK for BP.

Jim if you were an "S" boat man you will remember the famous **** in the eye valve , on full away and changing over to the economiser. I used to dread trying to flash the boiler on the Skill it was a night mare. The main engines to be fair were configured to BP specifications. The engine timing was such that liner wear and the piston "o" rings were a constant problem. I did two trips on the Skill 10 years apart. I walked off her in Japan as I had already done 6 months on a 4 month contract. UMS was a joke I joined as 3rd and ended up 2nd as a sweetner. !
10 years later in dry dock we adjusted the timing and cylinder oil lubrication by 17 degrees she ran like a swiss watch for the next 3 months and she was sold. I think they went as storage vessel as they were sinlge hulled. Nice accommodation. Not a great crowd on her both times , a heavy drinking ship.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

#60 BP had a class of 4 ships built in the 1980's British Skill & Succes built at H&W, British Spirit bulit by Scott Lithgow and the British Achiever built at Swan Hunters.
I sailed on 3 of these vessels all I can say is there was not a lot of SKILL or SUCCESS and you certainly needed be of good SPIRIT and have a great work ethic to be an ACHIEVER on any of these vessels. Old fashioned and out of date before they even entered service.
It was either the Spirit or the Achiever that had an offset to the steering as she crabbed sideways the bow and the stern were 5 degs out of alignment. BP manned that one with Aussie crews.

Hi James.
No sweat for an Aussie crew mate, they could handle anything.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

When UK joined the EU a number of countries such as Oz, NZ and South Africa lost out, UK could no longer trade with them.
But now a free trade agreement between Oz and UK is on as well as one being negotiated between NZ and UK.
All the named countries are now fre to trade where they wish, the EU may be good in some form but not when it came to trading with some other countries.

What is the latest betting on Truss being there at years end?
One report said if a mild winter and interest increases ease she may well see this through!!!!