Harland & Wolff needed to be quicker, more competitively priced and more focused on getting the initial terms and conditions of its bid right to win future orders, the president and chief executive of Cunard, Mr Larry Pimental, said yesterday.
Speaking to The Irish Times from Miami, Mr Pimental said he had nothing against the Belfast yard, but at the end of the day it was an economic decision to award the bid to Chantiers de l'Atlantique.
He said this was not a time to commiserate in Belfast but a time to celebrate. Harland & Wolff had put in a tremendous effort to win the Queen Mary II bid and had come from nowhere to end up second in the world.
"Harland & Wolff haven't built a ship in 40 years but it came in number two," said Mr Pimental. "Only six months ago Harland & Wolff wasn't thought of as a cruise-ship builder but this bid has opened the door for the yard and the UK to become a shipbuilding country again."
He said the yard had made phenomenal strides in the past six months and that he had recommended it to several other chief executives of cruise companies at the world's largest shipping conference in Miami this week.
He said he was astonished at the bad press coverage the UK government had received in relation to its efforts to help Harland & Wolff. He said the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, was a very persuasive man who was had been "personally engaged" in pushing for Harland & Wolff's bid.
Mr Pimental said he had every intention of putting the Red Ensign on the Queen Mary II and said it would be a British ship.
However, he dismissed the possibility of a U-turn by Cunard on the choice of yard to build the ship.