Ferguson Shipbuilders Limited is a shipyard located in Port Glasgow on the River Clyde in Scotland. It is the last remaining shipbuilder on the lower Clyde.
In 1981, the assets of Fergusons were combined with those of the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co in Troon to form Ferguson-Ailsa Limited. Ferguson-Ailsa was split and privatised in 1986, and Fergusons was purchased by A & P Appledore as Appledore Ferguson Shipbuilders, Limited. In 1989, Appledore sold Fergusons to a consortium of private interests, and by 1991 the Yard was operated by a parent company Ferguson Marine plc.
Shipbuilding
- 1900s - The company was founded in 1903 as Ferguson Brothers. They began building tugs, hoppers and dredgers. The company registered as a limited liability company in 1912 under the name Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow)Ltd.
- 1920s - The yard was bought up by John Slater Ltd and the main output was cargo ships, hopper dredgers, along with an Antarctic scientific and exploration ship Discovery II. By the end of the 1920s the Ferguson’s had managed to regain control of the yard.
- World War II - the yard built trawlers, corvettes, boom defence vessels, naval tugs and a twin-screw suction/trailing dredger. I n addition, four passenger and vehicle ferries were built for Turkey.
- 1950s - The yard continued making bucket and grab dredgers and variants on these carried the company through to the late 1970s. In 1955 Lithgow’s began their quest for full control of the yard by initially buying a minority interest in the yard which led to full control in 1961. the yard was now part of the Scott-Lithgow Group with the Ferguson Brothers displaced from any management control .
- 1977 - Fergusons was nationalised into the British Shipbuilders.
- 1980 - the yard was associated with the Troon yard of Ailsa shipbuilding Co. A full merger happened in 1983 which was then disbanded in 1986 after the Ailsa yard was sold off. The yard then merged with Appledore Shipbuilders to form Appledore-Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd. In 1989 the yard was sold again by British Shipbuilders to the HLD Group under the control of Kvaerner A/S of Norway. the yard traded again as Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd.
- 1990s- the yard was sold privately again and became Ferguson Marine ltd.
- Today - the yard is still in operation producing high quality small ships for companies all around the world. It has also made ferries for companies all around the world and continues to do so.
Sources of Information
[1] Wikipedia British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss