Oral history of the Malta Dockyard: Horace Fenech

Education-Apprenticeship process 

(00:30) He did his apprenticeship examination in 1971 and was one amongst the 60 other apprentices that entered the yard that year. He started as a boiler maker apprentice. He worked as an apprentice at the training centre where during his first year he learned about the different main trades in the yard, spending 4/5 weeks on every trade such as electrical work, gas cutting/welding, joinery work, bench fitting, and so on. He was sent to production centres during his second year as an apprentice where he was assigned to a tradesman who at the end of each month used to draw up a report and send it to the education department. 

Education-Employment pathways / local and foreign training opportunities 

(03:00) In 1973 he was chosen with four others to attend a scholarship in Spain in Naval Architecture. When he and other four colleagues arrived in Madrid, they started an intensive course of 6 hours per day lectures learning Spanish. In October 1974 they travelled to Cadiz from Madrid by train where they started attending the scholarship. This course consisted of 3 years and each year was further divided into three semesters, each having a 3-month duration. The other 3 months of the year were the summer break. He returned back to Malta in July 1977 and was told that he is to attend a further training period in a shipyard in Spain. He went to for an additional 6 months in a Spanish shipyard in Gijón.

(07:30) When he returned to Malta, he was assigned to the drawing office and later joined the new building section with Charles Montfort who was the marketing and sales manager.  He used to do work related to design and estimates, as they had a lot of inquiries from foreign companies, for instance SBM Monaco required a lot of single point mooring buoys.

Education-Projects 

(10:30) He recalls the dockyard being approached by a company headed by Roman Polanski, the film director, who wanted to design a barge as a base for a Galleon to be used for a series of films called “Pirates”. Horace was involved, with other dockyard workers, in the building of this barge and also built its framework to the shape of the galleon, which was constricted and finished in wood at Tunisia. 

(12:00) He recalls an important multimillion project on the ‘Ocean Tide’ in 1981/2, a ship belonging to ODECO, which consisted of a conversion of a drilling rig. This project required a lot of design and construction work as well as high quality work such as heat treatment of some of the steel structure.

After this project he worked on a tanker for Chinese Owners. Meanwhile, shipbuilding in Malta started progressing and in 1983/4 a contract was signed between the Russian government to build a series of 8 timber carriers. This design was created by a Polish company, and required some improvements. He and the purchasing manager went to Slovakia to buy the steel needed for this project.

It was agreed, that the first four ships were to be built at the drydocks while the other four were to be built at the Malta shipbuilding. He notes an interesting fact that although these ships were designed and built as timber / container carriers, they also had additional requirements for military purposes. When it came to the lastfourships, they created a physical model of the engine room, as there was lack of co-ordination from the designers. The model showed all the piping systems and the related equipment in the engine room.

The contract stopped when the USSR was disbanded.

Education-Employment pathways / local and foreign training opportunities 

(20:30) He was a promoted to Chief draughtsman of the Hull drawing office as from 1982. He was responsible to prepare the documentation and drawings of all work, both shipbuilding and shiprepair.

The drawing office had a section to prepare the docking arrangements required to dock the ship, based on the docking plan of the ship. This work was done in consultation with the docking section.

His section received the ship’s drawings and they would examine the shape of the ship bottom and provide details of how the dock blocks are to be arranged. The docking section would then prepare the blocks as instructed by the drawing office.

He remembers that there used to be a lot of work regarding passenger ships such as the ‘Vistafjord’ which required upgrading and modifications.

Entering the dockyard-Swan Hunter / Bailey / changeovers 

(25:15) He recalls when Malta Drydocks and Malta Shipbuilding yards were merged as one company and re-named Malta Shipyards Limited. This was during the time, when Malta joined the EU and the aim was that in five years the shipyard would stop making losses. He also mentions a project whereby two barges, the Fairmount Fjord and Fairmount Fjell, were brought in and were converted as heavy-lift ships.

(26:30) He recalls ships of the Norwegian company, such as the ‘Western Monarch’, being brought it which consisted of a lot of work.