Page 3rd Cover: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 1996)

EUROPEAN UPDATE by Carol Fulford and Andy Smith, contributing editors http://www.amercable.com

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Ailsa-Perth Marine Limited is a genuinely busy U.K. dockyard which is currently implementing an ambitious plan to expand the facility in an innovative way.

Business at the yard offers a unique perspective on maritime history. For instance, there are currently emergency repairs being carried out to a modern tractor tug in the same drydock from which

Admiral Nelson's illustrious flag- ship, Victory, was launched some 230 years ago.

Ailsa-Perth Marine Limited was formed to take over two of the three existing drydocks at Cha- tham Historic Dockyard on the

River Medway (which flows into the Thames Estuary) in the fall of 1994. In its first year it turned over close to $3 million, a remarkable feat considering that there was no existing business on which to capi- talize, and that the entire team consists of just 28 people. To dis- cover how this has been achieved at a time when the trend is to close yards rather than open them up, it is necessary to look at the Ailsa-

Perth Group as a whole.

A decade ago, the Ailsa Ship- builders' yard at Troon in Scotland was doomed as one of the sacrifi- cial lambs of the fast-shrinking conglomerate called British

Shipbuilders. On the day that news of the closure was broken to a despondent workforce, an Aus- tralian businessman called at the yard. While on a family holiday, he simply had come to the yard hop- ing to uncover the original draw- ings of a 200-ft. (61-m) yacht that

Ailsa had built in 1902, a vessel which he was considering purchas- ing. As it turns out, this unexpect- ed visitor, Gregory Copley, ended up buying the yard and giving it a new identity, Ailsa-Perth

Shipbuilders; adding the name of his own home town in Western

Australia. By investing in improved facilities and instituting the best modern management techniques, the Troon yard has gone from strength to strength with a busy program of newbuilds and repairs on a wide variety of vessels from tugs to ferries in its 400-ft. (122-m) drydock and build- ing hall, a facility capable of hold- ing two 374-ft. (114-m) vessels at a time.

Having proved that a well-run yard could prosper, Mr. Copley decided to look south of the border for another opportunity. Business associate and management consul- tant Bill Carr knew of the ideal site just 35 miles from London. As an independent consultant, he had been commissioned to look at the future prospects of The Chatham

Royal Naval Dockyard when the

Navy pulled out in 1986. This 350- acre site had served as a shipbuild- ing and ship repair base since the mid-16th century and was being divided into three units: a com- mercial port, an area of prime housing and prestige office devel- opment; and the Chatham Historic

Dockyard. This latter section, the oldest part of the site, is now open to the public with numerous sights to see.This building, built by ship- wrights in the only way they knew how, as an upside down hull, is now appropriately used by Ailsa-

Perth as a carpentry shop. In the middle of the area were three dry- docks providing capacity for ves- sels up to 394 ft. x 49 ft. (120 m x 15 m).

Although these docks have been kept in use on an '"ad hoc" basis

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