Harland & Wolff was awarded a £1.6 billion contract to build three ships.
The Belfast-based Harland & Wolff shipyard plans to resume production for the first time since 2003. The company, which built the legendary Titanic at the beginning of the last century, has signed a significant contract with the British Royal Navy.
According to The Financial Times, the new owner of the shipyard was the head of the London energy company InfraStrata John Wood, who bought the business at auction for 6 million pounds sterling.
Wood reported that Harland & Wolff received a state contract to build three ships for the British Royal Navy worth 1.6 billion pounds. The shipyard's partner on the project will be the Spanish company Navantia.
After the owner change, Harland & Wolff is undertaking a "serious transformation" of the business, the businessman said, and the new contract will "breathe new life" into the shipyard and the region itself.
Harland & Wolff will create up to 700 additional jobs as part of the expansion. Construction of the new ships is expected to begin in 2025 and be completed by 2032.
Harland & Wolff was founded in 1961 and, by the beginning of the twentieth century, was considered the largest shipbuilder in the world. The shipyard employed about 30,000 people. The Titanic was built from 1909 to 1911. In addition, Harland & Wolff produced 140 warships and more than 120 merchant ships. The last launch took place in 2003 - it was the Anvil Point ferry built for the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain. In the following years, the shipyard did not make any new ships but specialized in repairing vessels, wind turbines, and floating platforms.
