Arnish Fabrication Yard
Posted: Monday, 04 December 2006 |
Comments
Totally agree. People (creditors) on Berneray have also lost money with this. So much for the prosperity that this yard was going to be at the heart of.
Digital Sands / Silversprite from Berneray
The inevitable has happened. There was never a chance for Camcal without David Williams, successful and highly regarded throughout the renewables sector and the Wales factory which had a good reputation and where all the skills and expertise were embodied. The arrogance of the new owners lead to their downfall, they believed they could show the Welsh amateurs how to be successful but they knew little other than how to line their own pockets; there can be little doubt they will have taken out substantial amounts of creditors and tax payers cash. If WIE had kept their word to assist through early difficulties and paid their debts to Cambrian for craneage and demurrage the business would still be thriving. A fraction of the cash given to Camcal would have sustained Cambrian whilst it claimed its debt from Nordex and secured contracts later lost by Camcal to foreign competition. McCallum's weasle words are meaningless; the situation he outlines is how it has always been in the renewables sector. They were just not up to the job and tragically a sector leading Welsh business has been trashed just to get the business into Scottish ownership as required by WIE/HIE
Mike Evans from Bangor
yea totally agree with you there, i have friends who are having to go offshore or abroad to make ends meet(mortgages etc.) because of this situation.so much for these wind turbines being a plus for employment in the islands
ceanncropic from codhead
Local businesses will lose out - yet again. But it is false to say Camcal had a healthy order book. This was the very problem which led to its downfall. A lack of work in the market place due to a lot of windfarms ( like Amec and Eishken) being held up due to planning delays and protestors' objections is the correct reason. Camcal never received a 拢20 million subsidy. The vast majority of the outstanding work remained at Arnish. What firm went under because of Camcal? At least the Stornoway Gazette did not (wrongly) report Camcal's demise before its time unlike this blog last week. Don't believe Camcal ever made such an announcement as claimed in your last sentence.
Ian Macleod from Lewis
The Arnish F.Y. has always been like a rollercoaster, since I settled in Lewis, one day every thing is hunky-dory, the next day they're in administration. I worked there during the boom period in the "eighties" and would never go back as it's unreliable, employment- wise.
thewhitesettler from space
I have been in Lewis since late 2004 and am observing life on this fascinating island from an outsider's perspective. I look out at the lighthouse every day - as it looks out over the island and the sea. 
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