The builder of the Titanic is struggling to stay afloat
Harland and Wolff is fighting for its life
When it built the Titanic in 1911, Harland and Wolff was the world’s biggest shipyard. Where it once employed 35,000 people, there are now just a few hundred workers. But the 163-year-old company remains an institution whose significance to Belfast outweighs its size. Its own increasingly desperate struggle to stay afloat is of symbolic importance to the city and the wider shipbuilding industry. It also provides clues to the willingness of the new Labour government to help out troubled firms.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Taking on water”
Britain July 27th 2024
From the July 27th 2024 edition
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