dry dock

Many US shipyards are not operating at full capacity and have disabled dry docks, he said.

The first of the Royal Navy's Type 31 ships, to be named HMS Venturer, has already been floated in the Firth of Forth and is in dry dock being fitted out.

That meant the ferry had to spend months in a dry dock, a narrow basin which is drained, leaving the ship out of the water and supported by blocks.

Months of major repair work took place in dry dock at Cammell Laird shipyard in Merseyside, requiring removal of the ship's engines.

Behind schedule, and on the dry dock, the maintenance work was long enough for the pair of strangers to meet, fall in love and get engaged by the River Lagan.