A boss at Harland & Wolff’s (H&W) new owner has said its Belfast shipyard could return to employing thousands of people, compared to its present workforce of 560.
However, Donato Martinez, chief strategy and technology officer at Navantia, added that he had “no magic wand” for suppliers owed millions of pounds following H&W’s insolvency under its former owners.
He said he saw a “bright future” for the H&W site with a return to its symbolic importance as an employer of generations of workers.
The Belfast shipyard, and three others in the group, were sold to the Spanish state-owned Navantia in a deal backed by the UK Government, which completed this week.
At its peak, the shipyard employed 35,000 people in Belfast, and now has 1,015 across four shipyards.
Navantia is the lead company in a consortium, also including H&W, which in 2023 secured a £1.6bn deal to build three fleet solid support (FSS) ships for the Ministry of Defence.
Assembly, fit-out and delivery of the ships are to take place in Belfast, along with some manufacturing of blocks for the ships, with other parts built in Spain and at a H&W shipyard in Devon.
Mr Martinez said the deal to acquire H&W’s assets was prompted by the company’s financial problems, which deteriorated over last summer.
“It’s very hard to build a ship without a shipyard, so basically we started assessing whether it would make sense for Navantia to acquire H&W or not,” he said.
“So we started a due diligence process and eventually we came to the conclusion that… it would make sense to acquire all four yards.”
It had already provided a credit line to the business.
“Let’s say we were holding the hand of Harland & Wolff for several months,” Mr Martinez added.
He said the UK Government had not offered Navantia any payments beyond the £1.6bn deal as an incentive for the acquisition. But he said “minimum” changes had been made to the contract.
Mr Martinez committed the company to using local suppliers and staff and said it would not be using European suppliers where NI ones were available.
“This industry is very specific in the way it’s run. We need local people, which we found to be much more stable than people who have family or connections in other parts of the UK or abroad.
“It is the same for the supply chain. And for obvious reasons, the resilience of the supply chain is higher when it is local than when it’s abroad.
“We have seen that during Covid and we have seen that during the invasion in Ukraine. The more local, the better, in general terms.”
The workforce at Harland & Wolff in Belfast listen to speeches marking its sale to Navantia
Mr Martinez acknowledged the relationship with suppliers was difficult due to the unpaid debts under the old owners, but added: “We need them as much as they need us. It’s like a marriage.
“But we are not starting from a good start because they have a past, a history and the name H&W comes with some memories which in some cases aren’t good. We will try to reset those as much as we can and start on the right foot.”
He said another 500 people are needed in Belfast in the short-term for the work on the FSS contract, but that other deals, including in ship repair, would be sought.
“We are already discussing with the unions how to do that in an official manner and getting all the support we need from the bodies involved.
“We can be 2,000 people in Belfast, 3,000, or bigger. We need to start, so let’s focus on getting those 500 organised, then another 100, and another 100 after that.”
Mr Martinez said there were generations of the same families employed on shipyards in Spain and he sees Belfast returning to the tradition of generations working at H&W. He said: “That’s the plan. We deliver.”
Mr Martinez also urged workers to take ownership of the project.
“Belfast is going to be the prime contractor of the FSS. In the way we manage the business, the shipyard that is responsible for the delivery, is responsible for the FSS.
“The people of this yard are going to be responsible for all the work of the FSS, whether done in Spain or Appledore, or wherever it happens.
“They need to feel proud of that and that’s the only way of making sure that we transform into a shipyard with the right culture and the right discipline of delivery. They need to feel this is their programme and they have all the means to deliver.”
Donato Martínez, chief technology and strategy officer at Navantia
Contracts that were abandoned due to administration are now being restarted, while the layout would be revised to make it more efficient.
“We see a bright future for Belfast and more people to hire,” Mr Martinez said.
He explained that the UK Government’s shipbuilding strategy meant that “we are going to be flat out for a couple of years” and there were no easy answers for suppliers.
“We don’t have a magic wand, we cannot solve the issues with a move of the hand. We need to work through those issues, [and] understand them.
“Obviously we cannot pay past invoices, from the previous management, but we are confident about working with the supply chain to find solutions. We need them as they need us, so we hope there will be a place in the middle in which both parties will meet.”
Speaking at an event with Navantia leadership at H&W in Belfast, Economy Minister Conor Murphy said: “I will continue to work with the company to discuss future plans for the shipyard to scale up operations and ensure its long-term sustainability.”