The traditional Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where the “Titanic” was once built, has been forced into insolvency. A hoped-for loan has not materialised.
Harland & Wolff announced that the company is in a difficult financial situation following the rejection of a £200m loan by the British export credit agency UKEF. Although the current lender, Riverstone, has provided an additional US$25m, this is not enough to avoid insolvency.
The board has now decided to wind down the non-core businesses or sell them at a reasonable price. These include the Scilly Ferries and Marine Services divisions. The US business is to be sold.
Harland & Wolff shipyards to be retained
The four shipyards in Belfast (Northern Ireland), Appledore (England) and Methil and Arnish (Scotland) and the stake in the Islandmagee gas storage project will remain part of the core business. In total, the H&W Group employs around 1,600 people.
This is the second time in five years that Harland & Wolff has been placed in receivership. In 2019, oil services company InfraStrata bought the shipyards out of receivership before taking over the historic Harland & Wolff name and returning to shipbuilding.
The company was most recently dependent on the US lender Riverstone, which recently increased the credit line by a further £20m to £110m.
Harland & Wolff in Belfast once built the luxury liner “Titanic”, which hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage in the North Atlantic in 1912 and sank. Today, a museum at the shipyard commemorates the ship and the disaster that claimed almost 1,500 lives.
