Jobs could be on the way to Harland and Wolff’s Belfast operation after the shipyard won a wind energy contract in Scotland.
Although the eight wind turbine jacket foundations for Saipem Limited will principally be manufactured at the company’s Methil site in Fife – creating 290 direct and in-direct jobs - it said there is a chance the work could be spread across its locations in Belfast, Arnish on the isle of Lewis and Appledore in Devon.
“Should there be an opportunity to further optimise the works programme and make the contract more cost-effective, Harland & Wolff and Saipem will work jointly to spread additional workstreams within the contract across its three other sites in Belfast, Arnish and Appledore.”
READ MORE: {}
The contract is set to begin in July and the jacket foundations will service the EDF Renewables and ESB-owned Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Farm project located in the outer Firth of Forth in Scotland.
The latest contract win for the company goes some way to helping cement the future of the Belfast yard which had been facing closure only 18 months ago.
It was bought out of administration by Infrastrata which also owns the Islandmagee gas storage project in County Antrim. It also added the Appledore shipyard in north Devon to the group in August 2020.
John Wood, CEO of InfraStrata, hinted that further contract wins are imminent.
“We are delighted to have entered into this contract with Saipem and I believe that this contract paves the way for the execution and delivery of future fabrication contracts, a significant number of which are currently in advanced negotiations.
Most Read
“I am confident that this is only the beginning of a stream of projects in our pipeline that we expect to come to fruition. We are hugely excited about the massive potential that this first contract has unlocked, and we look forward to working with Saipem to successfully deliver under it.”
Harland & Wolff’s four sites offer a combined footprint of over 334.6 hectacres, with well over 72,000m² of undercover fabrication capacity. Belfast comprises two of the largest drydocks in the 海角视频, second largest in Europe, each at 356 metres and 556 metres in length whilst Arnish boasts the largest fabrication hall in Europe. Both the Arnish and Methil sites offer 580,000m² of total site area and 24,000 tonnes of quayside load-out capabilities, boasting an annual throughput tonnage estimated at over 100,000 tonnes.