ACL 'Atlantic Sea' Royal christening, Liverpool, Merseyside. 20th October 2016. "The first Royal christening of a ship on the Mersey. Credit: Cernan Elias/Alamy Live News
The Mersey is to host its first royal ship Christening for more than half a century. Princess Anne will celebrate the giant Atlantic Sea ship at the cruise liner terminal at midday, but the RMT union will demonstrate at the historic event, demanding shipping bosses at the Atlantic Container Line (ACL) firm employ more British seafarers. It claimed the new vessel and the rest of the fleet of new ships would not have any British seafarers working on board. The event on Thursday will mark the first royal christening on the Mersey since Princess Alexandra launched the HMS Devonshire in 1960. There will also be a spectacular fireworks display on the waterfront at around before the ship departs. In response to the union’s claims, An ACL spokesman said: “ACL is committed to investing in the UK, as shown by the building of our new European headquarters on Duke Street in Liverpool. It will employ nearly 200 local people, with many jobs relocated here from North America, Scandinavia and continental Europe. “Our present crewing requirements are determined by our five new multipurpose ships. These are far more complicated than typical container ships, bulkers, ferries or tankers and require very experienced crews.
Size: 3564px × 2376px
Photo credit: © EnVogue_Photo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: acl, atlantic, brexit, british, bulkers, container, cruise, deal, eu, european, exports, fleet, head, imports, line, liner, livepool, liverpool, mersey, merseyside, pier, port, ports, river, riverside, sea, ship, ships, stack, stacking, system, terminal, trade, vessel, waterfront