A COMPUTER containing the only copy of a safety manual for a new £8.5m ship was stolen yesterday.
The Terra Marique, a 12,000-tonne barge that aims to help beat congestion on the roads, was launched in Sunderland on Thursday.
The ship will take abnormal loads off roads and allow them to be carried on inland and coastal waterways.
The launch was marred when a lap-top containing all the safety and maintenance procedures for the vessel was stolen.
Michael Fadden, of Wynns Limited, the engineering firm that built the barge, had locked the lap-top in his car at 6.45am yesterday, as he prepared to leave the Pullman Lodge Hotel, in Whitburn Road, Sunderland.
Returning to the car minutes later, he found the window smashed and the lap-top gone.
Tim West, of Wynns, said: "This is not like a maintenance manual for a BMW. This is a unique vessel with specific procedures.
"We have lost hundreds of man-hours worth of work that will all have to be done again."
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