White sky evening view, from Queen Alexandra Bridge, two brown steel plates ships (one the 'Cedarbank' general cargo ship) on the stocks inside the all weather Pallion Yard of Sunderland Shipbuilders, River Wear, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK, 1976
William Doxford founded 'William Doxford and Sons Ltd' shipbuilding company in 1840. From 1870 the company was based at Pallion, on the banks of the River Wear, in Sunderland. In 1972 Court Line took over the company and re-named it 'Sunderland Shipbuilders Ltd'. Court Line collapsed, with massive debts, in 1974 and 'Sunderland Shipbuilders' was nationalised in 1975. In 1976 a new all weather Pallion yard was built (seen here), which could build two ships, up to 30,000 tons deadweight, side-by-side. The steel came in one end and the ships launched from the other. In 1986 the Pallion yard merged with Austin and Pickersgill (out of shot across the river to the right) to form 'North East Shipbuilders'. In 1988 the yards closed, when Government funding was withdrawn, and some 6000 shipyard workers lost their jobs. The larger of the two ships on the stocks is the 'Cedarbank', an 11,282 tons general cargo ship, launched 26 May 1976, completed 28 June 1976 and registered in London by the Bankline shipping company. After a number of name changes, the ship was broken up at Alang, India, in 1999. An evening view, taken in the summer of 1976, looking upstream towards Sunderland Shipbuilders' all weather Pallion yard from Sunderland's Queen Alexandra Bridge.
Size: 1623px × 1081px
Location: Sunderland Shipbuilders Pallion Yard, from Queen Alexandra Bridge, Sunderalnd, Tyne and Wear, UK
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1976, building, cargo, cedarbank, clouds, enclosed, evening, historical, history, industrial, industry, metal, pallion, river, ship, shipbuilders, shipbuilding, ships, shipyard, site, social, sunderland, tyne, uk, view, water, wear, weather, white, works, yard
