Shipyards Harland and Wolff should move to administration | Business

The historic Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic should be placed in the administration on Monday.

Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries, whose history dates back to 1861, has been struggling in recent years with fierce foreign competition. The Norwegian owner of the company, Dolphin Drilling, declared bankruptcy in June and put the Belfast shipyard on sale.

The company's yellow cranes dominate the skyline of Belfast, but shipyard labor has grown from over 35,000 in the 1920s to only 130, the shipbuilding industry in Northern Ireland having virtually disappeared. These 130 staff members received notices of dismissal.

The yard, which is now focused on the repair of ships and oil rigs, as well as wind turbines, recorded a loss of £ 5.8m in 2016 – the last year for which it has filed accounts – against profit of £ 1.1m in 2015 Sales dropped from £ 66.7m to £ 8.3m in the same period.

BDO, the accountants supposed to be put to work to ensure the administration, could make an announcement as early as Monday night, before officially placing the shipyard under administration Tuesday morning.

Two potential buyers of the company have already emerged, but it is thought that they are focusing on a sale after an administration. The MJM group, a Newry-based boat-building company, and Flacks Group, a US buyer of troubled companies, have expressed interest in buying the company.

The workers on the site will meet this afternoon to discuss their options. They occupied the court in protest and demonstrated in front of Stormont during the visit of the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. The parliamentary majority of the Johnson government depends on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party, whose MP Gavin Robinson represents the area containing the building site.

Susan Fitzgerald, Unite Union Regional Manager, said the employees had been treated as "little more than collateral damage to be eliminated."

She added that the site contains many items of historical value, such as antique chairs, crystal glbadware and tin boxes used on ships. These artifacts "really belong to the people of Belfast" but could be lost at any sale, she said.

The Labor Party and Unite called for the nationalization of the shipyard, a decision that he said would allow the government to save money in lost tax revenue.

MJM Group has been contacted. Flacks Group declined to comment.