Harland & Wolff: New owners promise more than 500 jobs to build first ships, but say it'll be 'all hands on deck' to make sure there's more work for Belfast shipyard
More than 500 extra jobs are coming to Harland and Wolff for its initial contract to build three ships for the Royal Navy, its new owners say.
But one of the high-ups at Spanish firm Navantia said it’ll be “all hands on deck” to make sure the contract is successfully delivered, as those three ships will be used to prove the company’s bona fides and hook in a steady stream of customers to secure staff both old and new.
Currently, Harland and Wolff employs around 1,000 people across four sites around the UK, 560 of them in Belfast.
To build three support ships the UK government has ordered for the Navy fleet, the business will need “many more than 500” additional men and women.
That’s according to Donato Martinez, Navantia’s chief technology and strategy officer, who was speaking to the media as Spanish executives toured the Belfast site yesterday morning after completing their purchase of Harland and Wolff.
Mr Martinez stated that shipbuilding and ship repair will be concentrated in Belfast, with other arms of the business based elsewhere – for example, construction for the renewable energy industry is likely to head to facilities on the east coast of Scotland.
But, he told the News Letter, it’ll be “all hands on deck” for everyone at the shipyard, from the boardroom to the construction floor, to make sure the support ships are built on time and to an excellent standard.
“We need everyone pulling together as one,” he said.
Only by delivering the three ships, he added, can Harland and Wolff show the shipbuilding industry it’s ready and waiting to carry out major work, and keep a stream of business coming in.
Mr Martinez revealed that long-term options could include more construction and repair contracts from the yard’s current customer, the UK government, or others from further afield.
Addressing all 560 workers in Belfast, the Royal Navy’s Brigadier Andrew Muddiman said that the three ships ordered from Harland and Wolff mark “a strong vote of confidence” in the government’s plans to “maintain a sovereign capability in shipbuilding”.
“This is vitally important for the Navy, as it is for Northern Ireland and for Belfast,” he said, adding that Navantia’s UK operation is now positioned as “one of the prime shipbuilding companies” in the country.
He went on to thank Harland and Wolf’s 560 workers for “keeping the faith”, stating: “There’s a tremendous opportunity here, and I know that Belfast and all of you here today are fantastically well placed to take that.”
Navantia chairman Ricardo Dominguez told the staff that new owners want to “build an excellent and robust team” with Harland and Wolff.
“Together, we have not only a great history; we have a fresh start and a bright future, because we are going to build it,” he said. “That’s what we do, we build.”
Lord Mayor of Belfast Micky Murray said the purchase of the shipyards “marks a new chapter in one of our most iconic industrial sites”.
He said Novantia’s arrival will “reaffirm Belfast’s role as a global leader in shipbuilding”.
The Royal Navy contract brings ship construction back to Belfast for the first time in over 20 years.