EMPEY IN DISCUSSIONS WITH BELFAST CITY COUNCIL ON H&W

12 June 2000

EMPEY IN DISCUSSIONS WITH BELFAST CITY COUNCIL ON H&W

"Harland and Wolff has a distinguished tradition and enormous expertise in shipbuilding design and construction," Sir Reg Empey, MLA, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, said today in an opening statement at a meeting with Belfast City Council to discuss future prospects for the Company.

Sir Reg said: "At a meeting earlier this morning, Brynjulv Mugaas, Chief Executive of Harland and Wolff, brought me up to date with the current situation at the Yard. It is extremely regrettable that redundancies had to be made last week but the Company is making every effort to attract new orders."

Outlining the methods and level of grant-aid possible within the UK and EU rules, the Minister said: "This morning I reaffirmed Government’s commitment to giving Harland and Wolff every support it can in winning new contracts in order to safeguard employment and skills at the Yard.

"Harland and Wolff has an enviable reputation as a builder of highly sophisticated vessels but the UK shipbuilding industry has been facing the most serious competition from Korea, Japan and China.

"The EU Commission has recently been successful in securing agreement on trade in shipbuilding with Korea. We support this agreement and believe it represents a real step forward in our efforts to tackle unfair trade practices which are of such serious concern to our shipbuilding.

"Management at Harland and Wolff is concentrating its efforts on the prospect of the Ł300 million order for the design and construction of four Ropax, Roll on Roll off, vessels for Seamasters International Incorporated and the possibility of building two luxury cruise liners for Luxus Holdings Ltd, following the signing of a Letter of Intent although no conditional contracts have been signed."

Issues under examination at today’s meeting included the ratio of core workers to contract workers and the training and retraining needs, particularly during the period between the completion of current work and the start of any future contracts.