Firm in Tamar bridge work put up for sale
There was disquiet this week when the news broke that engineering giant Kvaerner had decided to shake up its operations, and put many parts of its business up for sale - for Kvaerner Cleveland is the firm which has just signed the contract to upgrade the Tamar Bridge.
Chairman of the joint bridge and ferry committee, Mike Gillbard, immediately contacted Cornwall county council, and was reassured that the company will be seeing the contract through to a successful execution.
Mr Gillbard said: 'Apparently there were reassurances from those people we have been dealing with as regards the contract. We have been assured that that part of the business is very profitable, and has been successfully bought and sold a number of times in the past years.'
However he said that the committee, as well as Cornwall county and Plymouth city councils - who signed the contract with the company - will be keeping a close eye on the situation.
He said that it is not a question of the firm being closed down, but of a successful, profitable company being put up for sale to a buyer.
This week government trade and industry secretary, Stephen Byers, was due to have talks with Kvaerner director, John Fletcher, in a bid to ensure there are successful sales to the parts of the Kvaerner business which have been put on the market. These include the shipyard at Govan, near Glasgow, and a number of engineering and construction plants in the North East.
The Cleveland Bridge Company, which built the Tamar Bridge in the sixties, was chosen to carry out the £23.5 million contract to strengthen and widen the structure for a number of reasons, one being the continuity factor.
Mr Gillbard said that the scheme, in total, is worth about £34 million and, apart from the initial building of the bridge, is the 'biggest thing that has happened to the bridge and ferry committee.