As if confirmation were needed, another painful
reminder came yesterday that
Just weeks after
the QE2 said farewell to the
The latest luxury
liner, a 92,000 tonne, 2092-passenger vessel will be
the second-biggest ever built for Cunard.
While the first
Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and the QE2 were famously Clyde-built, floating
monuments to the expertise and craftsmanship of the 20th-century Scottish yards,
the new Queen Elizabeth, like the soon to be delivered Queen Victoria, will be
built at Monfalcone, in Italy.
Fincantieri said it was delighted to land
the £350m contract and described building liners as a growing market.
The company has
built 41 cruise ships since 1990 and the Queen Elizabeth is the 16th on the
order books.
Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri chief executive officer, said: "This
agreement confirms our global leadership in a sector with strong growth
prospects.
"It is a
particularly special moment for Fincantieri to have
secured a second order from Cunard at a time when we
are nearing the completion of Queen
While the Italian
firm is using its latest prestigious order to boast of its position as leading
shipbuilders on a global scale, passenger shipbuilding on the
John Robertson,
Glasgow North West MP, vice-chairman of the all-party shipbuilding group, is
realistic about where the
He said:
"Our days of building ships like the QE2 are long gone. The big yards are
not there with the capacity any more and we have lost a lot of the skills
needed to build them.
"I am
surprised
"If it
wasn't for MoD orders there would be no shipbuilding
on the
Jim Bullock,
fellow of the
He said:
"John Brown's was only able to build the biggest ships back then because
it had the River Cart at the other side of the slipway to launch them.
"These new
liners are a different class again, they are far
bigger than even the QE2. That was built for speed.
"These new
ships are built for size and capacity and are much slower. They are too big to
be built on the
Cunard said the new order was
placed following high demand and booking for the Queen Victoria, due to be
delivered next month.
The deal means
the company will return to operating three luxury liners, two years after the
QE2 is finally taken out of commission next year.