Member Info for dawski37

Excellent find, Syn00gold --just hope that they will doing an equally professional video this second time around --well spotted !

2014 of course !

Stokey - Oceanex Connaigra —on its then second visit after being dry docked in 014 when only 12 months old !! -Good article on N.I. Shipping blog.

Spud ..your reward awaits you …probably in heaven !!

Villa Vie Odyssey was scheduled for a yard in Germany --a third coup for Belfast --more to come in 2024 so the Cruise sector is at last coming good after some false starts !!

Stokey, thank you for the excellent link as always. The arrival of this massive vessel reminds me with pride of the moment in December 2019 when as Infrastrata Ltd we rescued H&W at Belfast from probable final closure as it had been for sale as a real basket case for some time. There was little hope of anything but final closure after years of underinvestment

All LTH's here should be immensely proud of our achievements some 4 years on with the yard now buzzing with work and more to come with the expected arrival of the Villa Vie Odyssey ( formerly Fred Olsen's Braemar) for a multi million value transformation into a residential cruise ship.

Expected arrival is next month so with Mas Islander already being worked on at last we have a full house.

So from 2019 and in just 4 years from zilch and an extremely brave but then necessary move by JW and AR we now have over 1,000 staff and many apprentices on board.

I have it on good authority that we should complete the refinancing in Q1 and there are high hopes for a successful Court decision though that is not guaranteed. We are in the 4th year of a 5 year plan with Navantia's incoming investment in cash and machinery already working wonders.

H&W (and JW in particular ) has had its detractors from those that are not really interested in job and hence wealth creation. We should all remain immensely proud today.

I have to say that Sea Rose certainly looks as thought it needs a good facelift -so welcome back !!

Broomtree .Thanks and noted --bit of a bu**er of a site following the near debacle with Saipem and the deliveries of duff steel from the Far East. We can only hope for inclusion in the "Forth Free Trade Area " as per the link xx.

Excellent find,K —I was wondering about Methil earlier as Stokey had not included it in his voluminous and well researched list …in the early hours again !! Xx

A well remembered connection albeit old 2022 news now .I have heard of “painting the town Red” but …………not that much damage done apparently as the wind was onshore at the time !!

Stokey --your are correct . as always !!. You should have been a well paid lawyer in another life --apologies Sir Jonathan !! xx

Long voyage from Italy to the cold waters of Lough Lagan just to use the crane ---as Kaeren correctly suggests/surmises the ship is likely to be here for at least a paint job . Am no expert of the current level of expertise in Belfast generally for refitting a Cruiser like this but if such work was also being considered or even already contracted ,then that would be one hell of a step up. More likely just a paint job for now ...or even "free" use of that crane !!!

More likely to refer to ship " Mars Islander " now shown to be en-route arriving early tomorrow at SRQ which is of course our leased repair quay ?

All rather confusing but both ships are "Carnival" owned and this beauty is now somewhat "old in the tooth" and some say is to be with us for a possible repaint job but all of this is still conjecture. Some say that it will be refitted in its home country, Italy of course after being with us for a while. Remember that we did an excellent paint job on the Cunarder in 2022 ?

At least with Sir Jonathan Band, being both an Executive Director of H &W and also of Carnival, his position and influence is now seemingly bearing fruit ...at last .More will be revealed in the next 24 hours no doubt xx

Great to have a high resolution profile splashed on the front page of the S. Times Business Section today and thanks to all for copying the text here. More to come next week possibly, so do watch this space !!

Have no fear ,Stokey ..much better news very soon, be assured !! Xx

K…your heavy 8 a.m. AIM busting 2024 trades have “gone into the cloud” xxx

Chris ..with us for minor repairs til 02.01.2024 !! SRQ only .

7 on the dot ( sorry !) it is then ..will be disappointed if nothing appears but not the end of the world .As K says “ there are more days left in 2023 still” ..though tomorrow may be the shortest day in the calendar year for some ,for others it may be long if the little red’un does not appear ..Eating hats for breakfast is not recommended !

OK , It was Good Old Baldrick who had the "cunning plan ", not Blackadder himself. Am still confident of an early Christmas but whether it is white with snow or black with gloom is still not easy to forecast .Whatever, it ( the intended refinance deal ) needs to be sorted by lunch time tomorrow latest, otherwise it's another "hat" job and only the very LTH's will understand that !!

Christmas MAY come early for us all !!! As Blackadder exclaimed “ we have a cunning plan “ !!!

The intended "Deal" needs to be sorted for once and for all within the next 5 working days, not just because of pending holiday breaks but because of both Investor confidence ( as already stated here) and moving forward on the Scilly Isles venture. Am confident that the BOD are now crossing the T's having had to work hard in the market place for the best trade off and dealing with H.M. Government--not easy and so time consuming. It will be disappointing if it has to move into Q1 2024 but the signs are that Christmas may come early for us !!