British Shipping Industry

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 5:57 pm on 17 December 1984.

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Photo of Mr Stephen Ross Mr Stephen Ross , Isle of Wight 5:57, 17 December 1984

I am pleased to follow the hon. Members for Tynemouth (Mr. Trotter) and for Wallsend (Mr. Garrett), because I know a little about the technical college which trains Merchant Navy officers and personnel at South Shields. Until recently my daughter taught there. She conveyed to me the depressing nature of the rundown in numbers and the virtual closure of that college, which has played such a great role over many years.

I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Romsey and Waterside (Mr. Colvin) on choosing this subject for debate. It is important that we should discuss these matters—in particular the dramatic decline in the strength of our Merchant Navy and the continual rundown of our shipyards.

As has been mentioned, since 1975 the number of ships in our merchant fleet has more than halved. The number has gone down from 1,600 to only 700. Between 1977 and 1980 about 24,000 jobs were shed in British shipyards, and many more have disappeared since then. More shipyards have been closed and there have been continual lay-offs. A great number of lay-offs are taking place at the moment, not only in the north-east, but in Southampton, at Vosper Thornycroft, a very modern shipyard which I believe should never have been nationalised. No new orders at all were received by British shipyards between July and September.

However, I welcome, as I am sure the hon. Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (Mr. Maginnis) also welcomes, the recent order which has been placed by British Steel for a bulk carrier at Harland and Wolff. My inspection of Harland and Wolff leads me to believe that it is as superbly equipped a shipyard as any in the Western world. That at least is one piece of good news. Every effort must be made to keep Harland and Wolff in operation.

Fiscal measures relating to taxation would help the shipowners of this country. I shall not repeat what has already been said. I support the GCBS proposal for a 50 per cent. ship allowance, not only for new but for secondhand vessels.

The "British Shipping Review 1984" says that Norway, Denmark and Japan provide extended periods of finance for up to 10 or 12 years, with initial grace periods of two to three years. While those schemes may have been devised to help domestic shipbuilders, obviously British shipowners have had some benefit from that. There is a host of examples of the sort of help given in West Germany, the Netherlands and many other parts of the world.

Does this country really want to opt out of owning a merchant fleet or building any more ships? Some operators in the City believe that we cannot compete and that, therefore, we should order all our ships from Taiwan—I have seen the very impressive shipyard there—Japan or Korea and perhaps merely fit out ships in this country.

That view was put to me by a City shipowner— I shall not name him—when I suggested where he might order his new ferry. The Under-Secretary may guess where it will be operating to and from. The Robb Caledon yard had just closed, and it seemed to me that such an order would be a great opportunity to reopen the yard. He said that I must be mad if I thought that he could get a ship built on competitive terms in a British yard. He said that the order would go perhaps to Scandinavia, but probably to the far east and that all that a British yard could do would be to fit out the ship.

That view is far too defeatist and must be resisted. The Government must help. I welcome the establishment of the all-party maritime affairs committee under the distinguished chairmanship of the right hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. du Cann), who spoke so knowledgably earlier. However, we are late on the scene. As a member of the committee, I pledge that we shall maintain the pressure until we see an upturn in our merchant fleet.

I congratulate the Government on facing reality in their Green Paper on maritime pilotage. That remark will probably not go down too well in my constituency, because a number of pilots live there, but the Government cannot opt out of the compensatory redundancy payments that will inevitably arise. The Green Paper says: The Government propose that as a matter of mechanics the cost of the scheme should be met from a levy on harbour authorities, which would be recoverable from a special charge on shipowners. We made a previous attempt to get some sense into pilotage, and it was accepted that 600 or more pilots might be made redundant. At that time, it was thought that redundancy payments would average about £80,000 per pilot. The shipowners said that they could not meet such sums, and it is hardly likely that they will be able to do so today when the situation is so much worse. There is a case for what the Government have set out in the Green Paper. However, the terms will have to be generous if we are to get a sensible settlement. A three-way split between the state, port authorities and shipowners is surely the right way forward.

Like other hon. Members, I am depressed by what I have seen across the water from my constituency, in Southampton. The actions of some dockyard workers and their colleagues in that port are, as was said earlier, sheer lunacy. They have put in jeopardy the jobs of too many innocent bystanders, whose livelihoods depend on a vigorous, modern, well-run port complex. Many Southampton operators have moved to Felixstowe, and one has even gone back to Liverpool. Perhaps we should give a cheer for Liverpool, but if Southampton has put itself in the same league as Liverpool, I deeply regret it.

Southampton has all the advantages: excellent facilities, four tides a day, and so on. Regrettably, the workers have committed suicide, and they have taken many pilots, tug owners and launch supply operators with them. That has had an effect in my constituency. Even taxi drivers in Southampton complain bitterly. The whole economy of Southampton has been affected.

A new attitude is required if we are to put matters right. We need a competitive port with a sustained record of industrial peace. Otherwise, shipowners from abroad will not come to our ports. We need to make proper use of modern technology and end overmanning, though with adequate redundancy terms.

As has been said repeatedly in the debate, we need the Government to provide a more sympathetic tax regime and financial help over the next few years similar to that which is so readily available to our competitors. We want fewer crippling charges imposed on shipowners and a determined effort to encourage people to buy British and to repair ships in British yards.

I tried today to get a copy of the evidence given to the Select Committee on Defence by the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, but I gather that it has not yet been published, so we cannot read what was said. The hon. Gentleman was dealing with the role of the merchant fleet in support of the Royal Navy in times of crisis, and what I have heard secondhand is not reassuring. Therefore, I hope that the Under-Secretary will say more about the issue when he replies to the debate.

I welcome the inquiry that is to be set up, but it is far too late. We know what the inquiry will show, and if we wish to save our merchant fleet we must take action now.