Appledore lives on

A multi-million pound steel mega yacht will be built at Appledore Shipyard in the UK before being sailed to Devonport for completion. Last year the yard, which is owned by Devonport owners DML, lost out on two important contracts.

It is hoped that the new contract, which starts in the autumn, will kick-start more of this kind of work for Appledore. In 2003 the entire workforce of 550 was made redundant when the firm went into receivership and the yard has struggled to find new work since it was taken over by DML in 2004.