Harland & Wolff, the owner of the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, will enter into administration this week after failing to find new funding, in a blow to UK government hopes of shipbuilding in the city.
The company said on Monday said that it was insolvent and would appoint administrators from Teneo this week.
The decision raises serious questions for the UK government, which had pledged to build three warships at the Belfast yard in an attempt to spread work beyond the two dominant British shipbuilders, BAE Systems and Babcock International.
It comes after months of fraught negotiations as Harland & Wolff scrambled to find funding to upgrade the shipyard.
It is the second time in five years that the owner of the Belfast yards has gone under. Oil services company Infrastrata bought the yards out of administration in 2019, before adopting the historic Harland & Wolff name and attempting to reinvent itself as a shipbuilder.
More details soon …