NEW NAVY SHIPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23995, 19 June 1941, Page 10

NEW NAVY SHIPS

BUILDING OF YAEDS

CONTRACT ALREADY LET

PORT CHALMERS PROGRAMME [by TKTiKGRAPIT t'HKSS association] DUNEDIN, Wednesday

Within 24 hours of the announcement bv the Minister of Supply and Munitions, the Hon. 1). G. Sullivan, that four minesweepers are to he huilt at Port Chalmers, a contract has been let to the Love Construction Company, Limited, for the erection of shipbuilding yards. The yards will be permanent and will be capable of accommodating very much larger vessels than minesweepers, and it is certain that when the four vessels have been completed further ships of similar and larger types will be built at Port Chalmers. Mr. Jainps Fletcher, managing director of the Fletcher Construction Company, has accepted an appointment from Messrs. Stevenson and Cook, who will build the minesweepers, to organise the whole of their _ shipbuilding programme, and in an interview he stated that the contract had been let to the lowest tenderer, the Love Construction Companv, Limited, for the erection of the buildings. The planning of the shipyard would follow lines recently adopted in the United States, where it was the practice completely to house the slipway on which the vessels were built and to provide for overhead elcctiic travelling cranes for the handling ot all materials. • "The Port Chalmers yard, Mr. Hotelier said, "is being laid down as a permanent shipbuilding yard and/yill he able to accommodate vessels of very much larger size than the minesweepers for which Stevenson and Cook have received a contract. n I lie contractors for the buildings, he added, had undertaken to complete them by the end oi August, and Mr. Sullivan had accepted an Invitation to perform the ceremony of driving the first rivet on September 1. '■One of the most serious problems still to be solved is that of labour, Mr. Fletcher said, "and as soon as the erection of the buildings has progressed sufficiently a call will be made for all classes of'labour. Tt is anticipated there will be no difficulty in securing the necessary staffs, as the conditions under which the men will be working will ensure continuous employment without loss of time through weather conditions."