Situation “critical” at beleaguered Harland & Wolff

UK defence contractor Babcock International is rumoured to have expressed an interest. Meanwhile Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia is leading a consortium already awarded a USD 1.6 billion contract for three Royal Navy support ships, one of which is set to be built at H&W. A UK consortium, which included BAE Systems and Babcock, lost the 2022 bid.

The fate of the shipyard still hangs in the balance. Following the departure of chief finance officer (CFO) Arun Raman, who resigned last week, fraught communication between GMB union and the BBC said the shipyard’s funds will run out at the end of the month, describing the situation as “critical”. “Workers, families, and communities will potentially be thrown into turmoil once again, in just days or weeks, because of abject failure in national industrial strategy and corporate mismanagement,” the union said.

But remarks followed from yard Executive Chairman Russel Downs, who told the BBC that the yard has a “credible future,” in spite of the pessimism.