Harland & Wolff sinking slowly under weight of competition

Ninety years after it built the Titanic, the Harland & Wolff shipyard is looking like it might itself be about to sink into history. The shipyard is 150 years old and was Belfast's major employer for many decades, but it has been in choppy financial waters since the 1960s, if not earlier.

Some believe that the Troubles in Northern Ireland in part lay behind the support the British government gave the yard in recent decades, fearing the release of a large number of unemployed men onto an already troubled city could have political and security implications.

At its peak, during the second World War, the shipyard employed 35,000 men and was averaging one ship a week. It built some of the world's most famous cruise liners. The Canberra, finished in 1960, was the last in that line. There was bitter disappointment in March 2000 when the yard failed to win the contract for the Queen Mary II, which went to a French shipyard.

The Belfast shipyard was privatised in 1989 and the major shareholder became the Norwegian shipping magnate, Mr Fred Olsen. Attempts to land orders too often ended unsuccessfully and after failing to land the Queen Mary II, protective notice was issued to 1,745 workers.

The yard's problems are those faced by many UK shipyards - fierce competition and difficult market conditions. Attempts to land orders for oil tankers failed when it emerged that Korean shipbuilders could build them for less than it cost Harland & Wolff for the required raw materials.

Recently the company was given political backing for a land deal designed to secure finance for the ailing shipyard. A deal involving 80 acres or more of the shipyards' land in Belfast Harbour Estate was part of a business survival plan.

"I firmly believe the deal is a good one for Northern Ireland plc and stands on its own as beneficial irrespective of the bonus value to shipbuilding in Belfast," said Mr Peter Robinson, Regional Development Minister.

Harland & Wolff told the Belfast Executive that it would close if the proposed land deal was not supported.

Last year, it said it had a schedule for redundancies that would begin this May and would lead to the closure of the yard.

A Stormont inquiry was held last year after a TV programme claimed there had been a "secret deal" between the company and the Belfast Harbour Commissioners. The claim was denied by the company.

The deal between the two entities involved leases for the site in the harbour being increased in length from a remaining 18 years to 250 years.

The commissioners said it was not the case that they were obliged to inform the Belfast administration of all the details of the deal with the shipyard's owners. There are plans to build a large development that would be called the Titanic Quarter on the harbour site.

The commissioners said they had told the UK government in August 1999 that they and the shipyard's owners were in discussions regarding the regeneration of the Titanic Quarter.