Harland and Wolff in bid to save Belfast shipyard

Belfast shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff shipyard is in discussions with Ministers from the Northern Ireland Executive in a last ditch effort to try and save the yard from closure.

The yard has said that by June it would be working at an “under-utilisation capacity” and that work would be tapering off at that stage.

Peter Harbison, Director of Communications at H&W stated that the yard had failed to secure new work due to the global economic downturn, high overheads and competition from the Far East.

The shipyard company has now put a proposal to the Minister of Regional Development and the Minister for Trade for a restructuring of the business. This would see Harland and Wolff moving away from traditional steel fabrication work and concentrating on high added-value elements.

The company said this would result in a more competitive and more efficient shipyard, therefore securing Harland and Wolff’s future.

However, even with help, the company would still be looking at cutting around 150 jobs, mainly from the steelwork department.

If the proposal is rejected, the yard almost certainly faces imminent closure.

The business plan which has been presented to Stormont involves selling part of the company’s land in the lucrative Titanic Quarter.

Peter Harbison said they would sell the lease of 72 acres, which H&W own under the current terms of the lease until 2114. Selling this, he said, would ensure the £20 million capital needed to restructure H&W on a smaller yet more effective basis.

However, because the land is publicly owned, the Minister for Regional Development, Peter Robinson, would have to approve changing the terms of the lease of the land held by the yard to enable them to market it for purposes other than shipbuilding.

Mr Harbison said that with this restructuring would see the shipyard develop other, more lucrative areas of the industry - namely more oil rig work, more high end design work, the fitting out of new vessels and the investment into offshore renewable energy wind market farms. (AMcE)