Harland and Wolff, Issued protective notice
The Chief Executive of Harland and Wolff has accused the British government of offering too little too late to help the Belfast shipyard win a vital order for a new liner. His statement follows the decision by the Cunard line to place a multi million pound order with a French company instead of with the Belfast shipyard. The Queen Mary II, which will be the biggest cruise ship ever launched, will be built in France at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire at a cost of £400 million.
The mood at the East Belfast shipyard was grim this morning as the 1700 workers digested the news that the order to build the liner had after all gone to French yard. The firm's order book is empty and closure seems inevitable within months. This morning Chief Executive of the Norwegian owned shipyard, Brin Mugaas, contrasted the efforts of the Department of Trade and Industry in London with those of local officials. He said that Northern Ireland departments had shown a lack of ability or desire to support the company. However he said that the overall support package put forward by the British government had come too little too late to address the needs of the potential customer Cunard.
But Tony Blair said that his government had done all it could to help the ailing firm. An application earlier this month for £38 million intervention aid, the maximum permitted under EU rules, was approved within a matter of days. The British government had also agreed to guarantee a ship mortgage loan worth £390 million covering 80% of the project costs. The Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson, has vowed to do all in his power to save the shipyard.
On Wednesday Harland and Wolff issued protective redundancy notice to its workforce of over 1,700 people due to lack of orders beyond June. The company has said that winning the Cunard contract was vital to its future. Closure of Harland and Wolff would have an enormous impact across the North's economy and Downing Street now faces massive political pressure to try and make sure that the yard stays afloat. The East Belfast MP, Peter Robinson, said that he was shattered by the announcement but was not prepared to give up fighting for the yard's survival. He said that the British government should place work for the Ministry of Defence with Harland and Wolff
The Belfast yard had tendered competitively to build the Cunard vessel, with guarantees to meet the delivery date by 2003. But it is understood that the French bid could have been as much as £90 million lower than that of Harland and Wolff. With an empty order book the future is now bleak for a firm which once employed 35,000 people, and was the pride of Loyalist Belfast in its industrial heyday.
