Scotsman Archive: Outlook for shipyards, 7 December, 1949

Published on Sunday 6 December 2009 21:53

THE "writing on the wall" for the ship building industry if the present trickle of orders could not be augmented was referred to by Mr George W Barr, managing director of the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, when his firm launched at Govan yesterday the 11,000 ton Blue Star motorship English Star. Mrs McKenzie, wife of Mr Windsor C McKenzie, senior superintendent of the owners, performed the naming ceremony.

Sir James Lithgow Bt, the chairman of the Fairfield company, who has been ill for a considerable time, met some of the executives and principal guests privately in his room, but did not take part in the public proceedings. The chair at luncheon was taken by the Earl of Elgin, deputy chairman.

Mr Barr, proposing the toast of the new ship and her owners, said that it was becoming more and more difficult to secure an order so that a keel could be laid down when a berth was vacated. This should be taken as the first tangible indication of the writing on the wall.

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