Attempts to save the Harland & Wolff shipyard continued at the weekend, with management pinning its hopes on several British Ministry of Defence contracts to keep the business afloat.
After losing a contract to build a £400-million cruise ship for Cunard last week, the 140-year-old yard is set to close its gates in June unless it can secure another order quickly. Its almost 1,800 employees have received 90-day protective redundancy notices. It is hoped the shipyard can win a number of small non-shipbuilding orders until the ministry invites tenders for six roll-on, roll-off ferries and six assault craft in the summer.
An agreement by several of the unions to a no-strike, pay-freeze deal is considered to be a positive factor in the yard's search for orders.
The ministry vessels were originally due to be put out to tender last August but were held over until the second quarter of this year. There are fears of further delays as the ministry has already overspent its budget.
The ministry, however, has allegedly ruled out any "special treatment" for Harland & Wolff. Defence contracts had to go to the most competitive bidder rather than "prop up" doomed companies, a British government spokesman was reported as saying yesterday.
There could be "no suggestion" the tender process would be accelerated to save the Belfast yard, he added.
Unions at the shipyard have called for a special task force to be set up to secure the company's future.
Citing the once-troubled Govan shipyard in Glasgow as an example, the secretary of the white-collar union MSF, Mr John Wall, said such a task force could bring together all those with a "sincere" interest in the yard's survival.
The taskforce would examine whether Harland & Wolff's owner, Fred Olsen Energy, was really committed to a continuation of the company. If it was found that this was not the case, the task force would then start looking for a new buyer, Mr Wall added.
Both unions and shipyard management have criticised the British government for what they described as its insufficient support to help the yard win the Cunard contract.
The government had been prepared to give a £38 million grant and underwrite a £400 million guarantee for Harland & Wolff.
The Northern Ireland Economy Minister, Mr Adam Ingram, defended the government's record on Saturday, saying the Department of Trade and Industry had done "everything possible" under strict EU competition rules which limit the extent of state subsidies.