SD14: a model of success

摘要

Traditionally, this column has commented on current events in our global industry or peered forward to examine what might lie ahead. For once, we are allowing ourselves the luxury of looking backwards, but not too far, at what was both a UK and international saga of success. The subject is the SD14 standard cargo ship, whose complete history is faithfully recorded in a newly published book SD14: The Full Story. Although born during the start of Britain's sad decline as a constructor of merchant ships, the SDH Liberty Replacement will unquestionably win a gold medal for both effort and success. The phenomenon of that eminently simple design, first marketed in 1966 for a figure - incredible though it seems today - of under £l million (extras were available for those wanting them), has largely been forgotten by many in today's frenetic boom-and-bust world of modern high-technology shipbuilding. By 1988, an amazing total of 211 had been completed (or 228 if all derivatives ate included), and more than 50 examples are still believed to-be tramping the seas.