What is Peel Company planning for ship repair?
10:41am Wednesday 8th August 2012 in Letters
Isn’t it time the people of Falmouth and Cornwall were told the intentions of Peel Company regarding Falmouth Ship repair, aka A&P?
A&P Management say the company cannot afford £23 million for a small dredging operation, but if the parent company is worth £6 billion+ surely the interest on that money would pay to have the job done.
The King’s Wharf and the Empire Wharf have been demolished to make way for a large Yacht Marina, the residue from this being dumped halfway down the condemned Western Wharf, only in use now for fishing trawlers at their own risk, the things mentioned above I do not think were initiated by the present owners.
If and when the yacht marina is up and running, it will extend all the way to The Queen’s South Jetty, and so another large ship berth will be lost. As for the promise of millions spent to repair the Western Wharf, it’s a non starter, over half its length has gone, where once 65,000 ton ships could berth today they would probably need permission to put a 600 ton ship on what is a left of this once magnificent wharf.
Although I am a Falmouth man, I am also a proud Cornishman, in 1961 stepping onto the Jetty in Hamilton Bermuda I saw Holman’s of Camborne air compression belting away – it was a nice feeling.
Where is a young man in Cornwall going to get a four year apprenticeship now? So, we have a 100 year old ship repair industry that over the years has brought employment and prosperity to thousands of people in and beyond Falmouth. Or is it to be a yacht mooring and large ship terminal? Our young people need jobs , preferably tradesman’s jobs.
Firms with a lot of money have a lot of friends in high places, so I’m afraid the future is out of our hands.
BG Falmouth
