My cousin Peter Anderson, who has died from oesophageal cancer aged 66, was the first – and last – shipyard electrical manager in Sunderland's 650-year shipbuilding history. In 1983, he was called to the Pallion shipyard, part of the nationalised North East Shipbuilders Ltd (NESL), for a mystery interview. Until then, shipbuilding had been primarily about steelworking skills. Offshore exploration required complex electrical systems and the yard had won a major contract. Peter asked what his new role entailed and was told: "If it has got a wire in it, it's yours."
The contract was for the Stena Seawell, the first in a series of vessels with electrical propulsion, computerised monitoring of machinery and high-voltage supply systems. Peter worked the huge crane ship ITM Challenger and the "red fleet" of 14 Superflex ferries, the last big order before the government's closure, announced in 1988, of NESL, which had been regarded as the most advanced shipbuilding outfit in the world.
Born in Whitburn, near Sunderland, Peter started work as a technical apprentice or "can boy" at Sunderland Forge and Engineering. As the company diversified from supplying local shipyards, he worked as a contract engineer on the Thames Barrier and on projects for the burgeoning shipbuilding industries in Taiwan and Korea. He joined Terasaki UK on Clydeside in 1993 as engineering manager.
For the next 20 years, he developed and patented new products, relishing the contact his work brought with the marine industry all over the world. His work often took him to Terasaki's headquarters in Osaka, Japan. Peter became well known for his presentations and had been due to give a keynote lecture for Lloyd's Register in Amsterdam. He believed a return to manufacturing and engineering skills was vital to Britain's future.
He is survived by his wife, Avril, whom he married in 1968, his sons, Barry and Simon, and his grandchildren, Oliver and Rose.