Titanic shipyard Harland and Wolff sinks into administration
Historic Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff is expected to enter administration later today, putting 130 jobs at risk.
The company’s owner, Norwegian firm Dolphin Drilling, had filed for bankruptcy in June and put the yard up for sale, but no buyer has been found.
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The shipyard, which built the Titanic between 1909 and 1911, traces its history back to 1861. It has struggled in the face of stiff competition from abroad, and made a loss of £5.8m in 2016 – the last year for which it filed accounts.
Harland and Wolff’s 130 staff have been given redundancy notices, and administrators are expected to be appointed later today.
A spokesperson for Harland and Wolff said: “There has been a series of board meetings, the result of which is that administrators will be appointed over the course of the day.”
The Labour party and Unite have both called for the shipyard to be nationalised, saying this would save the government money in lost tax revenues. The government has said the yard’s problems are “ultimately a commercial issue”.
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