Shiprepairer fails to get Swansea Dry Docks licence
Harris Pye Group has failed in its attempt to renew the necessary licence to develop and expand the Swansea Dry Docks for use for refurbishment and repair of vessels has disappointed the company.
The Barry-based group in the UK had plans for the regeneration of the area and for an increase in employment opportunities. “We are naturally extremely disappointed not only for ourselves, but for a potential workforce of up to two hundred people and 50/60 trainees per year who would have graduated from our training school. We also rue the missed opportunity for those who would have helped establish the thriving supply chain that would inevitably have sprung up in support of our actions,” says Mark Prendergast, managing director of the Harris Pye Group. “We were looking forward to being able to give Swansea ongoing pride in its maritime heritage.
“We would like to thank all who supported our bid, and those who worked with us in the Docks during late 2009 and throughout 2010. They can take pride in the work they did on Saga Pearl II and on the other vessels/projects that have made use of the two Dry Docks.”
Having invested some £500,000 on the Dry Docks, with plans for another £2 million to bring the facility up to international standards, Harris Pye also had plans to move the global headquarters of their £100 million group to Swansea alongside the Dry Docks, which would have seen a further investment of £5 million.
“Our global business is developing rapidly and, although we are deeply saddened by this decision, we need now to put this disappointment behind us, and move forward with drive and enthusiasm,” says Prendergast. “There is much to be said for that good old expression ‘as one door closes, another opens’ and we are looking at fresh opportunities elsewhere.”
