WORKERS from Hampshire have just put the finishing touches to £14m worth of refurbishment work for cruise giant Princess Cruises.
It’s the end of a “massive” contract for 14-month-old Southampton ship outfitting firm Maritime Services Corporation UK (MSC UK), and represents more than 50 per cent of the turnover of its long established American parent MSC US.
The contracts for the Caribbean Princess and the Golden Princess saw the six-strong Portswood based outfit swell the ranks of its workforce to as many as 130 skilled contractors, many from Hampshire, building a casino, pictured below, restaurants and luxury apartments amongst other attractions on board.
It’s just the latest win for the region’s ship services sector, which appears to be riding out the worst of the recession. As previously reported by the Daily Echo, Southampton rival Trimline has just completed a major refit of former Celebrity Cruises vessel Galaxy into a German based ship called Mein Schiff.
And MSC UK bosses are now hopeful of securing further lucrative contracts on other Princess Cruises Grand Class vessels, some of the biggest afloat, which are all due for refurbishment under the company’s SWAP project. They are also keen to link up with other local firms and break into the luxury yacht outfitting market.
Managing director Robbie Saggars said: “It is the largest refurbishment project Princess Cruises have done to date and we got the lot. We were the main contractors. This was massive for us and one of the biggest we have taken on to date. Across the two Princess Cruises jobs there were 750 people involved, including 130 from the UK. The first job was carried out in Grand Bahama Shipyard and the second in Victoria, British Columbia.
“It has been a flying start to the business, with the first job a £1.7m contract for the refurbishment of the crew accommodation for the National Geographic Explorer ship, which has been converted into an ice breaker in Gran Canaria and we took a crew of 70 UK tradesmen.”
He said Southampton had been carefully chosen as the ideal location for MSC.
“MSC was situated here because it’s a prime location internationally and conveniently situated for working across Europe and we have got the talent here.”
MSC UK has no connection to Southampton firm MSC Europe, which went bust in 2008 with debts of £3.1m before being bought back out of administration by its directors.
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