Lairds blamed for its collapse

The UK shipbuilder Cammell Laird has been blamed for the failure of a deal that led to the firm’s collapse. The shipbuilder called in receivers in 2001 after a £50m contract to lengthen the Italian cruise ship ?Costa Classica? fell through.

Cammell Laird claimed that it had already built the hull section at its yard in Birkenhead, where it was waiting to be fitted. But the ship’s owners, Genoa-based Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, claimed the hull section was not built within the agreed time or to the specified quality.

The ship was en route to Merseyside, with Cammell Laird staff on board marking it out for cutting, when it was ordered to return to port, leaving the shipbuilder with a 45 metre, 13-deck extension and an unpaid bill. Its directors blamed this, plus other problems, when the firm went into receivership in April 2001 with debts of £150m.

A tribunal in Italy ruled Cammell Laird was to blame for the deal’s collapse.