With a 164-year shipbuilding heritage and the launch of 1,700 ships, including some of the most iconic in history such as the world-famous Titanic, Harland & Wolff in Belfast has had another rebirth and new owners.
The deal by Spanish firm Navantia to acquire the company after its parent H&W Holdings slumped into administration in September, has been hailed as “something extraordinary”.
And the new owners say they expect the current 1,000 workforce across its four shipbuilding sites (the others are in Methil and Arnish in Scotland and Appledore in England) to swell to at least 1,500 “but possibly more” as it starts working on securing new orders.
They said the deal aims to strengthen the UK’s industrial capacity in shipbuilding, defence, and offshore wind, while supporting a skilled workforce and a resilient domestic supply chain.
Navantia UK currently leads the £1.6 billion Fleet Solid Support (FSS) programme, which involves constructing three 40,000-tonne ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary across the four yards as well as its Puerto Real site in Spain.
Ricardo Domínguez, who is chairman of Navantia, and the company’s UK chief executive Juan de la Cueva visited the Belfast facility on Wednesday to celebrate “a transformative development that strengthens both the UK’s sovereign defence capabilities and its clean energy ambitions”.
“Today marks the beginning of our shared journey. We are not just combining two companies; we are building a formidable team,” Sr Domínguez added.
Navantia chief technology and strategy officer Donato Martinez told the Irish News that the Belfast yard will serve as a cornerstone in delivering the £1.6 billion Fleet Solid Support (FSS) programme with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which will see it a consortium including Navantia deliver three 40,000-tonne vessels, and that will involve hiring hundreds more workers.
He said: “That contract alone will employ at least 1,500 people. Building is very demanding in terms of workforce, and we’re also working for more contracts beyond FSS and leveraging ship repair capacity.
“So we see a bright future for Belfast, with many more people to hire. Many more than 500.”
Sr Martinez also moved to reassure suppliers owed millions of pounds by the bankrupt H&W Holdings company who feared they will not be paid and that they may be replaced by European contractors.
He said: “We can’t pay invoices from past management, but I’m confident we’ll work with local suppliers. We need them as much as they need us, and we will work through the issues.”
Ironically, as celebrations of the acquisition were taking place in Belfast, representatives of the former owners moved to effectively obliterate a storied name associated with the Belfast manufacturing giant since its foundation in 1861 by Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff.
According to freshly-filed Companies House documents, the Harland & Wolff (Belfast) Ltd company name has been changed to Halo (Belfast) Realisations Ltd.
The new owners told the Irish News: “This is nothing to do with Navantia UK. There are no plans to change the name of the business from Harland & Wolff.”
