Cammell Laird, the Merseyside shipyard and engineering firm, are set to successfully complete the £49.5 million refit of one of the country’s largest Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels, the RFA Fort Victoria.

In the largest contract for the firm this year, Cammell Laird committed 450 employees to the 10 month project, part of a “cluster” deal signed in 2008 between the shipyard and the Ministry of Defence. Cammell Laird are contracted to maintain nine of the 13 ships in the RFA flotilla, and their successes have seen the contract extended until 2018.

Linton Roberts, Cammell Laird managing director, said:

“It has seen more than 450 men work on it for nearly a year, including apprentices.

“The successful completion of such a complex and demanding refit will be testament to the pioneering benefits of clustering.

“Cammell Laird has developed in-depth knowledge of the Victoria having worked on her for more than 10 years, the last six years under cluster. That experience and expertise of working together is enabling us to undertake bigger and more difficult refits.”

Project director Spencer Atkinson led the work, saying that the preparation time afforded by the “cluster” deal was a key factor in the project’s successful completion:

“It is hard to underestimate the scale of this job. It has certainly been the most challenging to date and required all the lessons we have learned working with the RFA under the cluster contract.

“Completing this refit is a formidable achievement for the yard and everyone involved. We did undertake a lot of planning, particularly around big jobs like the removal and replacement of six diesel generators which saw the ship cut open on both sides of the hull and then once the generators were installed the shell plating was then refitted and fully welded.

“We also pre-manufactured pipe work, steel work and ordered long lead time equipment well ahead of the start of the contract in January.

“This meticulous planning paid off, maximising the speed and efficiency of the refit which was on a tight timeframe. This included planning for dry-docking the Fort Victoria twice to allow another RFA vessel refit to be completed in No5 dry-dock.”

The nine ships involved in the Cammell Laird maintenance “cluster” deal are:

• Fleet Tanker RFA Gold Rover
• Fleet Tanker RFA Black Rover
• Fleet Tanker RFA Wave Knight
• Fleet Tanker RFA Wave Ruler
• Support Tanker RFA Orangeleaf
• Stores Ship RFA Fort Austin
• Stores Ship RFA Fort Rosalie
• Fleet Replenishment Ship RFA Fort Victoria
• Forward Repair Ship RFA Diligence

Commodore Ian Schumacker, defence equipment & support, Royal Auxiliary Fleet commented:

“The refit of RFA Fort Victoria is a great example of what can be achieved through collaborative relationships.”

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Words: Peter Cribley