Titanic shipyard to go into administration

Yahoo – AFP, August 5, 2019

Harland and Wolff shipyard once employed more than 30,000 people but that
number now stands at 130 (AFP Photo/PAUL FAITH)

Belfast (AFP) - The iconic Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff, which built the Titanic, is going into administration on Monday.

"There has been a series of board meetings the result of which is that administrators will be appointed over the course of the day," said a spokesman for the shipbuilder.

Democratic Unionist Party lawmaker Gavin Robinson earlier told BBC Radio Ulster that a short-term solution "seems increasingly unlikely" and that "we've pulled all the political levers that we can."

The shipyard is due to formally cease trading at 5.15 pm (1615 GMT) on Monday.

Dolphin Drilling, the Norwegian parent of Harland and Wolff, is struggling to find a buyer for the giant of Northern Ireland's industrial past, whose huge yellow cranes have towered over the Belfast skyline for decades.

The shipbuilder employed more than 30,000 people in the early 20th century, but now has only 130 workers.

Many of them have protested at the site since last week in a bid to save the yard, calling for the government to intervene amid rumours of last-minute buyouts.

"It's a waiting game today, we are waiting to hear news," said Barry Reid, shop steward with the GMB union.

As well as building the doomed Titanic, which sank in 1912, Harland and Wolff supplied almost 150 warships during World War II.

It has since moved away from shipbuilding and was until recently working mostly on wind energy and marine engineering projects.