Sixty jobs will be lost from Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries’ east Belfast shipyard in Northern Ireland due to a lack of new orders.
Around 200 people are currently employed at the yard (pictured), which is owned by Norway’s Olsen Energy, the Irish Times reports. The shipyard specialises in vessel repair and conversion projects, design and heavy marine engineering.
Management will first seek voluntary redundancies, Michael Mulholland, a spokesman for the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering, told the newspaper.
Unions including the GMB and Unite intend to try and minimise the impact of the redundancies on their members.
“Our unions are seeking assurances from the DETI and DEL Ministers that they will mandate relevant agencies to put in place a package for those affected, perhaps involving upskilling, which will mean that these skilled workers are available for the company, as and when they expand their workforce with an improving order book,” Mulholland said.
In January, the shipyard won a two-month maintenance contract from Stena Line, in which seven of the line’s vessels will visit the facility for work such as annual inspections and upgrades to passenger facilities and technical systems.
