RESCUE: The last chance to save Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff from closure will be considered today when Northern Ireland's power-sharing Executive receives an ambitious rescue plan.
The plan would see the yard abandon mainstream shipbuilding and reinvent itself as a specialist engineering company.
At stake is the survival of a company once seen as a bellwether for the North's economy. Today's yard is a pale shadow of the industrial force it once was, when it had a 30,000 workforce and commissioned some of the world's largest vessels.
Under the rescue plan, the yard proposes to close its welding and steel workshops, where large-scale ship construction is undertaken, to focus on ship repairs, outfitting, technical services and the launch of a £20 million sterling (€32.4 million) company making equipment for offshore wind farms. "Every part of the plan is in place except how to fund it," says Sir David Fell, chairman of Harland and Wolff.
The scheme is seen by management as the only way to avert a potentially fatal cash crunch, with no orders on the books once the last of two Ro-Ro ferries under construction for the Ministry of Defence is delivered next January.
Just how desperate the situation is will be underscored today with management set to notify the regional government of plans for 160 redundancies among the yard's steel workers.
Mr Andrew Kane, chairman of the senior shop stewards' committee at Harland & Wolff, says the shipbuilder faces a Hobson's choice. "It's either liquidation or mothballing the yard or we accept this new business plan. At least under the plan some people get to keep their jobs."
To finance the plan, the company is proposing changes in the long-term lease on its 160-acre Albert Dock property. The lease stipulates that the area can only be used for shipbuilding, which sharply limits its commercial value. Changes will require the approval of Mr Peter Robinson, regional development minister, who controls the Harbour Commissioners, Harland & Wolff's landlord.
If Mr Robinson gives the go-ahead, the company will relocate its much smaller operations in one part of the yard, and look to sell the lease on the other 72 acres.
Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, will today receive the PricewaterhouseCoopers assessment of the plan. One of his concerns is to avoid a situation where the plan fails but the public land has already been given over for development over which the regional government has no say.
On the other hand, he may be blamed if he blocks the deal and the yard has to close. As one official put it: "He can't win either way."
