Penzance Dry Dock

BREATHES AGAIN

What is exciting about Penzance Dry Dock in Cornwall, is that it is a hybrid of old and new. It is a site of historical significance, steeped in maritime history, but it is also an up-and-coming company at the cutting-edge of new industrial developments. CEO Jamie Murphy is at the forefront of its growth. He described its illustrious past and bright future to Hannah Barnett.

Penzance Dry Dock was established in 1815. By 2021, after more than 200 years and with the decline of the shipping industry in the area, it faced closure.

That was where Linked Solutions stepped in. A manufacturing, marine engineering and consultancy business, its founder, Jamie Murphy, is a Cornwall native with four generations of family having worked at the dock. He is now the CEO of Penzance Dry Dock and made saving it a passion project that he was willing to go to any lengths for. “I put my house on the line to secure funding,” he said.

Penzance Dry Dock were the perfect fit for the recently formed Linked Solutions, and for Mr Murphy himself. “Industrial decline has been on my radar since I was a child,” he explained. “When I left the Navy, and I saw the state the industry was in across the UK, I started Linked Solutions. I use my personal relationships with suppliers and people who owned manufacturing companies.”

Since Linked Solutions took over, Penzance Dry Dock has quadrupled staff members, won a rising star of industry award, and launched the first apprenticeship scheme seen on-site in over 25 years.

Green revolution

Its location in the west of Cornwall makes Penzance Dry Dock a key strategic point for mariners crossing the Atlantic. When he took over, Mr Murphy was keen to utilise this potential, and attract all types of vessels ‘whether it's defence, commercial, or private yachts.’

Linked Solutions’ diversification was another significant aspect of the restructuring process. “We took the machinery that was only working at a 50-60% capacity,” Mr Murphy said, “and opened it to an element of industry that it hadn't been exposed to before. We commissioned a production line, which was the first one ever at Penzance Dry Dock We encouraged manufacturers to diversify, and it works.”

With one foot in the past and one eye on the future, Mr Murphy explained how the industrial revolution ‘started in Cornwall’ and continues today in a different form, with the ‘green energy’ offered by offshore wind farms.

He continued: “We are well equipped to offer logistical solutions and engineering support, like running crew transfer or support vessels. We are perfectly positioned to support every element of the industry.”

The company has also applied for a shared prosperity fund, to enable a complete refit of the site. After decades of neglect and mass dilapidations, it is vital to bring the yard up to an even playing field with other shipyards in the UK. “That's going to allow us to deliver with the full scope of the offshore wind project,” Mr Murphy said.

A hive of activity

Mr Murphy described Penzance Dry Dock as a now bustling site, with plenty of projects on the go, ’36 completed in our first year’ he said. There are around 40 full-time staff members, up from six at the time of takeover, including ‘labourers, fabricators, project

managers, team leaders’ as well as people working on projects up the coast, in London, or overseas.

Mr Murphy continued: “Our first year was the first time in decades that Penzance Dry Dock used all of the spaces available to it. We've got a UK Border Force vessel that's in the Wet Dock. There's not been a Border Force vessel that’s had a Penzance Dry Dock contract in over 30 years. We’ve got two ships in the Dry Dock. And we've got two mass fabrication projects going on in the workshops, one of which is the largest mass fabrication project the company has ever had since the yard’s formation in 1815.”

The scale of this growth is taking the company beyond Cornwall, to an international level. Mr Murphy revealed that the company hope to soon be building and developing a deep-sea fishing fleet in Zanzibar: “When this comes to fruition, we will be building 15 ships. It will be the largest commercial shipbuilding contract Cornwall has ever seen.”

The project will enable a collaboration with the well-established Tor Group shipbuilders, Macduff Ship Design, Kort Propulsions and Wills Ridley. “We're all in it together,” he said. “They can help us to deliver a build, by bringing their specialties, their products and their expertise to the table, to mitigate the risk.”

Real relationships

Everything that goes on at Penzance Dry Dock is a collaborative process to some degree and Mr Murphy was keen to emphasise that. From the relationships that helped save the dock in the

first place, to the everyday ones that keep the business afloat day-to-day and the future ones that are allowing for its expansion.

“It’s all about relationships, you've got to maintain relationships, whether that's your neighbours, or your nearby yards, or the people within your workforce,” he said. “We're in constant talks with other shipyards around the UK, to see how we can help each other. In modern Britain, we must focus on our own industry and become more self-reliant. We've all got to work together, right across the country.”

Unsurprisingly, with such an optimistic attitude, Mr Murphy was serene about tackling some of the challenges currently faced by all industries. “Communication is key,” he reflected. “You can't help the global crisis; you can't help the energy crisis. You just have to make sure you're communicating that the prices have gone up because of x, y, z to your client, as your suppliers do to you. Everyone’s in exactly the same situation.”

The company extends this partnership ethos to its own workforce. Mr Murphy said that saving Penzance Dry Dock has benefitted everyone involved ‘even the council.’ He continued: “It's having a huge knock-on effect. There is not a single member of staff who is on minimum wage. To be down in West Cornwall and have a job which isn't on minimum wage, is a gift from God, in a way.”

Additionally, Penzance Dry Dock incentivises its workforce by making it ‘part of’ the company itself: “We also offer a profit share: the better we do, the better the individual does.”

The horizon looks hopeful for the company. Mr Murphy said it wants to move into supporting the defence sector with government contracts, as well as doing more ship builds, continuing to diversify and to support the green energy sector.

As stories of triumphing over adversity go, Penzance Dry Dock has a good one. Perhaps most significant is the way the company’s success may also offer hope to the individual. Mr Murphy may be a CEO now, but he has worked his way to the top. As a result, he was keen to stress the significance of the company’s apprenticeship scheme: “It’s what I really care about. I started off as an apprentice many years ago. And now I’ve got two engineering companies. There is nothing to stop any of our apprentices from being sat at the top one day.” n