The Red Ensign flag will fly outside Caerphilly County Borough Council’s headquarters in Tredomen on September 3 to mark Merchant Navy Day.
The council are supporting a nationwide call from the Seafarers UK charity and the Merchant Navy Association for the UK Merchant Navy’s official flag to be flown to raise awareness of the UK’s ongoing dependence on seafarers.
A dedication led by council leader Keith Reynolds will take place at 10am.
Cllr Reynolds said, “I am pleased that we are supporting Merchant Navy Day. We are huge supporters of the forces here in Caerphilly and taking part in this event demonstrates our respect and ongoing commitment to those who serve both past and present.”
The charity’s president, HRH The Earl of Wessex, has endorsed the campaign, saying: “On this Merchant Navy Day, I very much hope you will support this campaign to remember the sacrifices, salute the courage and support the future of the often unsung personnel of our Merchant Navy.”
The UK relies on Merchant Navy seafarers for 95% of imports, including half the food consumed, and has the largest ports industry in Europe.
Good, the men of the Red Ensign are often forgotten but were as vital to our survival as the armed forces during two world wars. My late Uncle Eddie, as a merchant seaman veteran, would have strongly approved
This is good, very good. What’s going on?
With Rule Britannia and all that, it is a shame the ships are no longer built in Britain, and are increasingly not operated by British companies, nor registered to a British port.
Yes it is more than a shame, it is shameful. I was on a cruise some years ago and the ship was British registered and officered, but built in Germany. I attended one of the talks on board which described the ship in technical terms. Apparently Siemens, in Germany, had manufactured faulty drive motors for the screws. This necesitated dry docking for the motors to be changed for good ones. The officer giving the talk explained that the work had to be carried out in Germany as “the necessary skills are not to be found in Britain.”
This was a ludicrous statement about a country (Britain) that has yards that produce nuclear submarines, huge aircraft carriers and many other warship types. The truth is that for many reasons commercial companies have deliberately chosen to buy ships from abroad and crew them with foreign nationals, leaving only MOD work for the shipyards and few crew jobs for British people.
Wharever the commercial reasons we are putting ourselves in grave peril should our comfortable little world change and we, once more, need shipyards and merchant seamen in order for our island to survive.
Was that 2005 on the MV Aurora? It looks like the curse of the champagne bottle not smashing has come true with that ship.
I agree is is disappointing to have to transfer jobs abroad as the skills do not exist in Britain but I blame the government for not helping the shipbuilding industry. We cannot state it is all for business reasons when it is not.
Size: the largest ship built in modern times is the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier (920ft long, 65,000GT) but the modern passenger ships being built these days are 1187ft long, 225,000 GT. When the ships being built are double the size of Titanic and the largest ship being built in Britain, we see that Britain does not have the facilities to build big ships. Even when the QE-class was being built, its 56m needed a specialist crane to be built. How would the shipyards cope with a 73m high ship?
Successive British governments have refused state subsidies and tax credits which has led to the demise of shipbuilding in Britain. It is a tragedy. In the 60s when air travel took off and shipbuilding declined all over Europe the British government did not step in like other European governments did. Now, in the 90s and naughties when demand for mega ships costing $1bn exist (cruise industry and cargo), the other European governments have secured ship building in their countries but the British government has not. Britain can, maybe, build a large fishing boat.
It is simply too expensive to expect a private company to undertake construction of a shipyard, and bid for a contract, only to build the ship out of its own pocket because the companies pay for the ship after it has been handed over. A £5bn injection would solve the problem but the government is too busy with HS2.
Yes, it was Aurora, I sailed on her in 2006 and 2007, thankfully without problems. I agree with much of what you say, for a couple of hundred years British government was the envy of the world. It really seemed capable of making the right decisions, both commercially and diplomatically.
Good governance is in the past now, look at the money wasted on poll tax, London Underground, identity cards, NHS computer systems, PFI, I could go on.
I took issue with the officer delivering the talk as the job (changing very large electric motors) is something that can easily be done in British yards. Basically it is remove plating on the ships side, cut frame members as necessary, weld rails to deck, unbolt motors from beds and slide along the greased rails to get them outboard for lifting. I could still assemble a workforce of old men to do the job, this sort of thing was bread and butter to us in industry. Sadly we are not a ‘can do’ nation anymore and feel we can only build twee little houses and retail parks.