Today, the company is focused on supporting five sectors: Defence, Energy, Cruise & Ferry, Renewables and Commercial. It offers services including technical services, fabrication & construction, repair & maintenance, in-service support, conversion and decommissioning.
Having entered administration for the second time in five years, it was bought by Navantia in January 2025.[5]
In 2022, the company was awarded a major naval contract as part of Team Resolute (alongside Navantia UK and BMT), to deliver the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's three new Fleet Solid Support vessels. Harland and Wolff's official history, Shipbuilders to the World, was published in 1986.[7]
History
19th century
Harland & Wolff was formed in 1861 by Edward James Harland (1831-1895) and Hamburg-born Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1834–1913) who moved to England aged 15, and then to Ireland in 1857. In 1858 Harland, then general manager, bought the small shipyard on Queen's Island from his employer Robert Hickson.[8]
After buying Hickson's shipyard, Harland made his assistant Wolff a partner in the company. Wolff was the nephew of Gustav Schwabe, Hamburg, who was heavily invested in the Bibby Line, and the first three ships that the newly incorporated shipyard built were for that line. Harland made a success of the business through several innovations, notably replacing the wooden upper decks with iron ones which increased the strength of the ships; and giving the hulls a flatter bottom and squarer cross section, which increased their capacity. Walter Henry Wilson became a partner of the company in 1874.[9]
When Harland died in 1895, William James Pirrie became the chairman of the company and remained so until his death in 1924.
1900s to 1940s
RMSTitanic ready for launchHarland & Wolff's Belfast drawing offices early in the 20th century
Workers leaving the shipyard at Queens Road in early 1911. RMSTitanic is in the background, beneath the Arrol Gantry. The bow of SS Nomadic is at the far left.
In 1912, due primarily to increasing political instability in Ireland, the company acquired another shipyard at Govan in Glasgow, Scotland. It bought the former London & Glasgow Engineering & Iron Shipbuilding Co's Middleton and Govan New shipyards in Govan and Mackie & Thomson's Govan Old Yard, which had been owned by William Beardmore and Company. The three neighbouring yards were amalgamated and redeveloped to provide a total of seven building berths, a fitting-out basin and extensive workshops. Harland & Wolff specialised in building tankers and cargo ships at Govan.[10] The nearby shipyard of A. & J. Inglis, on the north bank of the Clyde and the east bank of the Kelvin, was also purchased by Harland & Wolff in 1919, along with the Meadowside shipyard of D. and W. Henderson and Company, on the north bank of the Clyde but on the west bank of the Kelvin.[11] The company also bought a stake in the company's primary steel supplier, David Colville & Sons. Harland & Wolff also established shipyards at Bootle in Liverpool,[12]North Woolwich in London[13] and Southampton.[14] However, these shipyards were all eventually closed, beginning in the early 1960s when the company opted to consolidate its operations in Belfast.
In the First World War, Harland and Wolff built Abercrombie-classmonitors and cruisers, including the 15-inch gun armed "large light cruiser" HMSGlorious. In 1918, the company opened a new shipyard on the eastern side of the Musgrave Channel which was named the East Yard. This yard specialised in mass-produced ships of standard design developed in the First World War.
A burner operating at night on the deck of a ship at Harland and Wolff's Liverpool yard (27 October 1944)
The shipyard was busy in the Second World War, building six aircraft carriers, two cruisers (including HMSBelfast) and 131 other naval ships; and repairing over 22,000 vessels. It also manufactured tanks and artillery components. It was in this period that the company's workforce peaked at around 35,000 people. However, many of the vessels built in this era were commissioned right at the end of the Second World War, as Harland and Wolff were focused on ship repair in the first three years of the war. The yard on Queen's Island was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe in April and May 1941 during the Belfast Blitz, causing considerable damage to the shipbuilding facilities and destroying the aircraft factory.
1950s to 1990s
With the rise of the jet-powered airliner in the late 1950s, the demand for ocean liners declined. This, coupled with competition from Japan, led to difficulties for the British shipbuilding industry. The last liner that the company launched was MV Arlanza for Royal Mail Line in 1960; the last liner completed was SS Canberra for P&O in 1961.
In the 1960s, notable achievements for the yard included the tanker Myrina, which was the first supertanker built in the UK and the largest vessel ever launched down a slipway, as it was in September 1967. In the same period the yard also built the semi-submersible drilling rig Sea Quest which, due to its three-legged design, was launched down three parallel slipways. This was a first and only time this was ever done.
In the mid-1960s, the Geddes Committee recommended that the British government advance loans and subsidies to British shipyards to modernise production methods and shipyard infrastructure to preserve jobs. A major modernisation programme at the shipyard was undertaken, centred on the creation of a large construction graving dock serviced by two Krupp Goliath cranes, the iconic Samson and Goliath, enabling the shipyard to build much larger post-war merchant ships, including one of 333,000 tonnes.
The shipyard had a long-standing reputation as a Protestant closed shop, and in 1970, during the Troubles, 500 Catholic workers were expelled from their role.[18]
Continuing financial problems led to the company's nationalisation, though not as part of British Shipbuilders, in 1977. In 1971, the Arrol Gantry complex, within which many ships were built until the early 1960s, was demolished. The nationalised company was sold by the British government in 1989 to a management/employee buy-out in partnership with the Norwegian shipping magnate Fred Olsen; this buy-out led to a new company called Harland & Wolff Holdings Plc.[19] By this time, the number of people employed by the company had fallen to around 3,000.
For the next few years, Harland & Wolff specialised in building standard Suezmaxoil tankers, and has continued to concentrate on vessels for the offshore oil and gas industry. It has made some forays outside this market.
Faced with competitive pressures, Harland & Wolff sought to shift and broaden their portfolio, focusing less on shipbuilding and more on design and structural engineering, as well as ship repair, offshore construction projects and competing for other projects to do with metal engineering and construction. This led to Harland and Wolff constructing a series of bridges in Britain and also in the Republic of Ireland, such as the James Joyce Bridge and the restoration of Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge, building on the success of its first foray into the civil engineering sector with the construction of the Foyle Bridge in the 1980s.
In 2003, Harland & Wolff's parent company sold 185 acres of surplus shipyard land and buildings to Harcourt Developments for £47 million. This is now known as the Titanic Quarter, and includes the £97 million Titanic Belfast visitor attraction.
In recent years the company has seen its ship-related workload increase. While Harland & Wolff has had no recent involvement in shipbuilding projects, the company is increasingly involved in overhaul, re-fitting and ship repair, as well as the construction and repair of off-shore equipment such as oil platforms. On 1 February 2011 it was announced that Harland & Wolff had won the contract to refurbish SSNomadic, effectively rekindling its nearly 150-year association with the White Star Line. Structural steel work on the ship began on 10 February 2011 and was completed in time for the 2012 Belfast Titanic Festival. In July 2012 Harland & Wolff was to carry out the dry docking and service of the Husky Oil SeaRose FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) vessel.
Belfast's skyline is still dominated today by Harland & Wolff's famous twin gantry cranes, Samson and Goliath, built in 1974 and 1969 respectively.
In late 2007, the 'Goliath' gantry crane was re-commissioned, having been moth-balled in 2003 due to the lack of heavy-lifting work at the yard.
In June 2008, assembly work at the Belfast yard was underway on 60 Vestas V90-3MW wind turbines for the Robin Rigg Wind Farm.[22] This was the second offshore wind farm assembled by the company for Vestas having completed the logistics for the Barrow Offshore Wind Farm in 2006. In August 2011 Harland and Wolff completed the logistics for the Ormonde Wind Farm which consisted of 30 REpower 5MW turbines.
In March 2008, the construction of the world's first commercial tidal stream turbine, for Marine Current Turbines, was completed at the Belfast yard. The installation of the 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System was begun in Strangford Lough in April 2008.[23]
In July 2010, Harland & Wolff secured a contract to make a prototype tidal energy turbine for Scotrenewables Ltd.[24] Manufacture of the SR250 device was completed in May 2011 and has been undergoing testing in Orkney since.
Since April 2012, the booming offshore wind power industry has taken centre stage. Harland & Wolff had been working on three innovative meteorological mast foundations for the Dogger Bank and Firth of Forth offshore wind farms, as well as putting the finishing touches to two Siemens substations for the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm. Seventy-five per cent of the company's work was based on offshore renewable energy. Harland & Wolff was one of many UK and international companies profiting from the emergence of UK wind- and marine-generated electricity, which had been attracting significant inward investment.[25] As the business environment became increasingly competitive the yard began to have difficulty in generating enough business to meet overhead expenses. The yard was last profitable in 2015 and the following year it had an operating loss of £6 million.[26]
In 2018, the parent company Fred. Olsen & Co. restructured and decided to place Harland and Wolff up for sale.[27] No buyer emerged and on 5 August 2019 the company announced that they would cease trading and entered formal administration.[28]
Subsequently, on 1 October 2019, it was announced that the shipyard had been bought for £6 million by the London-based energy firm, InfraStrata.[29]
In August 2020, InfraStrata also bought the dormant Appledore shipyard for £7 million.[30] The deal will see the shipyard renamed H&W Appledore complementing the H&W Belfast shipyard by focusing on smaller ships of up to 119 metres in the shipbuilding and ship repair market.
In February 2021, InfraStrata acquired two BiFab yards, the £850,000 deal was struck for the Methil and Arnish yards, (but not the Burntisland facility). These Scottish facilities will trade under the Harland & Wolff brand.[citation needed] In September 2021, Infrastrata plc was renamed Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc. [31][32]
In April 2023, the Belfast yard completed its first new vessel since Anvil Point in 2003. It is a barge for the waste management company, Cory, the first of an order for 23 such craft. From 2025 the yard is expecting to complete the final assembly of three naval support ships for the Royal Navy as part of the Team Resolute Consortium.[33]
On 16 September 2024, it was reported that Harland & Wolff entered administration for the second time in 5 years.[34] The company was expected to continue operations normally, with its non-core operations winding down and up to 60 jobs being lost.[35][36] On 19 December 2024, it was announced that the Spanish State-owned shipbuilding company Navantia had agreed to buy Harland & Wolff's four shipyards and retain all employees.[37][38]
In January 2025, it was announced that Navantia had completed its purchase of the British company.
A collection of Harland & Wolff papers are held at Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).[39] The Harland & Wolff archive in PRONI comprises c.2,000 files, c.200 volumes and c.16,000 documents, 1861–1987, documenting most aspects of the history of Belfast's famous shipbuilding firm.[40] A further major archive is held at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum (UFTM). This has a photographic collection and a ships' plans collection (i.e., technical drawings). Around 8,000 prints of Harland & Wolff-built ships covering the period 1890-1945 are held in bound volumes in the UFTM's library. However the UFTM's collection of ships' plans is not currently available to the public nor is there a copy service.[41] Selected early ship's plans (dating from 1860 to 1882) are reproduced in a pictorial book by McCluskie (1998).[42] Records relating to the Govan yard of Harland & Wolff plc are maintained by the Archives of the University of Glasgow (GUAS).[43]
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved with original construction, dockyards are sometimes more linked with maintenance and basing activities. The terms are routinely used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.
William James Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, KP, PC, PC (Ire) was a leading British shipbuilder and businessman. He was chairman of Harland & Wolff, shipbuilders, between 1895 and 1924, and also served as Lord Mayor of Belfast between 1896 and 1898. He was ennobled as Baron Pirrie in 1906, appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1908 and made Viscount Pirrie in 1921. In the months leading up to the 1912 Sinking of the Titanic, Lord Pirrie was questioned about the number of life boats aboard the Olympic-class ocean liners. He responded that the great ships were unsinkable and the rafts were to save others. This would haunt him forever. In Belfast he was, on other grounds, already a controversial figure: a Protestant employer associated as a leading Liberal with a policy of Home Rule for Ireland.
Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding dedicated to civil and military naval construction, the design of deep-tech systems and the manufacture of structures for the renewable energy sector, such as offshore wind or hydrogen.
British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including RMS Lusitania, RMS Aquitania, HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth 2.
Samson and Goliath are the twin shipbuilding gantry cranes at Queen's Island, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The cranes, which were named after the Biblical figures Samson and Goliath, dominate the Belfast skyline and are landmark structures.
A & J Inglis Limited, was a shipbuilding firm founded by Anthony Inglis and his brother John, engineers and shipbuilders in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland in 1862. The firm built over 500 ships in a period of just over 100 years. Their Pointhouse Shipyard was at the confluence of the rivers Clyde and Kelvin. They constructed a wide range of ships, including Clyde steamers, paddle steamers and small ocean liners. In wartime, they built small warships, and in the period after World War II, they built a number of whalers.
Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was a German-born British shipbuilder and politician. Born in Hamburg, he moved to Liverpool in 1849 to live with his uncle, Gustav Christian Schwabe. After serving his apprenticeship in Manchester, Wolff was employed as a draughtsman in Hyde, Greater Manchester, before being employed by the shipbuilder Edward Harland in Belfast as his personal assistant. In 1861, Wolff became a partner at Harland's firm, forming Harland and Wolff. Outside shipbuilding, Wolff served as a Belfast Harbour Commissioner. He also founded the Belfast Ropeworks, served as Member of Parliament for Belfast East for 18 years and as a member of the Conservative and Unionist Party and Irish and Ulster Unionist parties.
Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a large-scale waterfront regeneration, comprising historic maritime landmarks, film studios, education facilities, apartments, a riverside entertainment district, and the world's largest Titanic-themed attraction centred on land in Belfast Harbour, known until 1995 as Queen's Island, and initially, Dargan's Island. The 185-acre (75 ha) site, previously occupied by part of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, is named after the company's, and the city's, most famous product, RMS Titanic. Titanic Quarter is part of the Dublin-based group, Harcourt Developments, which has held the development rights since 2003.
Appledore Shipbuilders is a shipbuilder in Appledore, North Devon, England.
The economy of Belfast, Northern Ireland was initially built on trade through Belfast Harbour. Later, industry contributed to its growth, particularly shipbuilding and linen. At the beginning of the 20th century Belfast was both the largest producer of linen in the world and also boasted the world's largest shipyard. Civil unrest impacted the city's industry for many years, but with the republican and loyalist ceasefires of the mid-1990s, Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement in 2006, the city's economy has seen some resurgence once again.
Sir Edward James Harland, 1st Baronet, was an Ireland-based English shipbuilder and politician. Born in Scarborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire, he was educated at Edinburgh Academy. In 1846, aged 15, he took an apprenticeship at the engineering works of Robert Stephenson and Company in Newcastle upon Tyne. Afterwards he was employed in jobs in Glasgow and again in Newcastle, before moving to Belfast in 1854 to manage Robert Hickson's shipyard at Queen's Island. Four years later he bought the yard and renamed the business Edward James Harland and Company. In 1861 he formed a business partnership with Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, his former personal assistant, creating Harland and Wolff. Later, Harland recruited William James Pirrie as another partner. Edward Harland, Gustav Wolff and William James Pirrie maintained a successful business, receiving regular orders from the White Star Line, before Harland's retirement in 1889, leaving Wolff and Pirrie to manage the shipyard.
TitanicBelfast is a visitor attraction in Northern Ireland, which opened in 2012. A monument to Belfast's maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city's Titanic Quarter where the RMS Titanic was built. It tells the stories of the Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank during her maiden voyage in 1912, and her sister ships RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic. The building contains more than 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) of floor space, most of which is occupied by a series of galleries, private function rooms and community facilities.
There have been several proposals and studies for a project to build a replica ship based on the famous Olympic-class ocean liner, RMS Titanic. A project by South African businessman Sarel Gaus was abandoned in 2006, and a project by Australian businessman and former politician from Fairfax division Clive Palmer was announced in 2012, known as the Titanic II. While Palmer has made no official announcement about his project being abandoned, it appears to have seen a dramatically decreased amount of progress by 2015 and no construction. A Titanic replica to be permanently docked at an inland resort in Sichuan, China commenced construction in May 2015. The Titanic Museums in Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee are designed to depict the forward half of the Titanic.
Alexander Montgomery Carlisle, PC brother-in-law to Viscount Pirrie, was one of the men involved with designing the Olympic-class ocean liners in the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff. His main area of responsibility was the ships' safety systems such as the watertight compartments and lifeboats. As a Privy Councillor, he was known as "The Right Honorable".
SS Pennland was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched as Pittsburgh in Ireland in 1920 and renamed Pennland in 1926. She had a succession of UK, German and Dutch owners and operators. In 1940 she was converted into a troopship.
The Arrol Gantry was a large steel structure built by Sir William Arrol & Co. at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was built to act as overhead cranes for the building of the three Olympic-class liners.
John Gibb Dunlop (1844–1913) was a Scottish engineer and shipbuilder who ran John Brown Shipbuilders for many years. He is best remembered as the person in charge of the building of the ill-fated RMS Lusitania and the renowned RMS Aquitania.
The Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme (FSSP) aims to deliver up to three fleet solid support ships to the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The ships will be used to provide underway replenishment of dry stores, such as ammunition, spare parts and supplies, to ships of the Royal Navy. They will regularly deploy with the UK Carrier Strike Group, providing crucial supplies to the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and their escorts. All three ships had been scheduled to enter service between 2028 and 2032. However, subsequently the Ministry of Defence indicated that the first ship would in fact not be operational until 2031.
↑ Moss, M; Hume, J.R. (1986). Shipbuilders to the World: 125 years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast 1861–1986. Belfast: Blackstaff Press. pp.xvii, 601 p. ISBN0-85640-343-1.
Johnston, Ian; Buxton, Ian (2013). The Battleship Builders – Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-59114-027-6.
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£27,696,837 (2022) [3] 
