Posted on September 18, 2024
There’s huge, undeniable value in conserving historic landmarks, but what happens when said landmark is no longer a profitable business? In the case of Harland & Wolff, the shipyard that built the Titanic, along with other famous liners and vessels, the answer seems to spell “bankruptcy.”
For the second time in five years, Harland & Wolff has entered into administration, which is the UK equivalent of filing for bankruptcy. A new management is being brought on to analyze the situation and decide on the best course of action, now that the British government has officially denied them a $264 million loan that would have kept them afloat for a while longer.
Back in 2019, the shipyard, whose history goes back 163 illustrious years, was in a similar pickle. After going into administration and securing new investors, it was able to soldier on and keep all its four shipyards open. For the time being, these shipyards will remain open while the company’s fate is being decided, though redundancies are to be expected.
According to interim executive chair, restructuring expert Russell Downs, Harland & Wolff could go private. As of late July, the yard stopped trading on the London Stock Exchange after failure to publicly share audited accounts on time and following the belated disclosure of mismanagement of $33 million in funds under previous management.
State-owned Spanish shipbuilder Navantia and British defense company Babcock International have both expressed interest in Harland & Wolff.
As per another local media outlet, having the historic shipyard go under would be a disaster of Titanic proportions. But having it bought out by Navantia and, in the process, lose the contract for assembling Fleet Solid Support ships for the Royal Navy’s carrier force, which Harland & Wolff currently holds, would be an unfathomable nightmare.
In addition to working on some of the world’s most famous liners – in Titanic’s case, also most famously doomed – Harland & Wolff has also been overhauling another liner that’s been in the headlines as of late. That would be the Odyssey from Villa Vie Residences, which, should it ever set sail, will become the world’s first affordable residence-at-sea ship.
The Odyssey has been at the Belfast shipyard since May this year, where it arrived by tugboat from London, after an aborted maiden journey. The Odyssey is actually a 1993 Fred. Olsen retired cruise liner, which startup Villa Vie Residences bought and refurbished in the hope of delivering the first at-sea residence ship for the masses – meaning, where you don’t have to fork over millions of dollars for a cabin.
The Odyssey should have set sail on May 15, 2024, and has since been blowing past repeated deadlines while undergoing refurbishments, repairs, tests and retests, and new sea trials out of Harland & Wolff in Belfast. The troubles these two are facing aren’t necessarily connected, except for the fact that they’re experiencing them physically together and at the same time.
