Iconic shipbuilder Harland and Wolff, known for building the doomed Titanic, said on Monday it faced fresh financial difficulties, forcing it to offload non-core assets to keep its yards afloat.
The Belfast-based company said in a statement that it was appointing external administrators to help sell or dispose of non-core assets, including the Scilly Ferries business.
Harland and Wolff’s interim chief executive, Russell Downs, said “extremely difficult decisions have had to be made to safeguard the future” of its four UK yards, including the Belfast site where the Titanic was built in 1912.
“The group is facing a very difficult period given the overflow of significant historical losses and its failure to secure long-term financing,” he added.
The group’s statement said the yards could still be sold.
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Harland and Wolff “is insolvent on a balance sheet basis for its latest audited accounts and most recent management accounts,” it added.
“Accordingly, contingency planning for the issuance of an administration order and the appointment of administrators … is underway for the company. This process will likely begin this week.”
In addition to building the Titanic, Harland and Wolff built the two sister ships Olympic and Britannic, and also supplied nearly 150 warships during World War II.
It built the SS Canberra in the late 1950s and the Myrina in the 1960s, the first UK-built supertanker, and was recently part of a consortium that won a major aircraft carrier and logistics ship contract. Its shipyards are also active ship repairers.
The group has 1,500 employees, a far cry from the more than 30,000 at the turn of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1861.
Source: AFP