Executive support secures H&W future

The shipyard has been in decline for a number of years

The immediate future of the Belfast shipyard of Harland and Wolff seems to have been secured, the BBC has learned.

It is understood that the Northern Ireland Executive gave its backing to a business plan put forward by managament at the yard.

The power-sharing government also approved a land deal which would provide the finance for the restructuring of the company.

The firm, which is owned by the Norwegian company Olsen Energy, has been unable to secure enough shipbuilding work.

The plan has a strategic value in that is assesses where the company is, it recognises changes that have to be made and it has to bring its costs down

Sir Reg Empey
Enterprise minister

A lack of money to keep the business going during continuing hard times made the threat of closure more immediate.

Harlands management put the plan to ministers several weeks ago and warned that the yard could face closure unless a rescue plan could be agreed.

Enterprise Minister Sir Reg Empey said the proposals were not a short-term measure.

"The plan has a strategic value in that it assesses where the company is, it recognises changes that have to be made and it has to bring its costs down," he said.

"The plan has the potential to do that but of course they will have to get themselves to a point where they can attract orders and that is what I hope this will do."

Last month, the Regional Development Minister, Peter Robinson, agreed in principle to allow part of the shipyard's land to be sold for redevelopment.

Mr Robinson said the proposed land deal involving 78 acres was in the "public interest".

In March, the company announced that it was to lay off another 140 staff following a raft of redundancies over the last few years.

Recovery plan

Harlands' management had placed their hopes of stopping the business closing altogether on a restructuring plan.

The company had been preparing to issue redundancy warning notices to the yard's remaining workers in case the recovery plan was not accepted.

Olsen Energy has been increasingly focusing on the opportunity to make money by making its land in Belfast available for development for other uses.

There are plans for the area around Harlands to be developed as a new commercial and entertainment sector called the Titanic Quarter, after the famous liner built at Harlands.