Titanic shipbuilder sinks back into trouble

The Belfast-based company said in a statement that it was appointing outside administrators to help sell or wind down non-core assets, including its Scilly Ferries business.

Harland and Wolff's interim executive chairman Russell Downs said "extremely difficult decisions have had to be taken to preserve the future of" its four UK shipyards, including the Belfast site on which the Titanic was built in 1912.

"The group faces a very challenging time given the overhang of significant historic losses and its failure to secure long term financing," he added.

The group statement said that the shipyards could still be sold.

Harland and Wolff "is insolvent on a balance sheet basis per its last audited accounts and most recent management accounts", it added.

"Accordingly, contingency planning for the making of an administration order and appointment of administrators... is underway for the company. This process will likely commence this week."

As well as building the Titanic, Harland and Wolff built its two sister ships Olympic and Britannic, and also supplied almost 150 warships during World War II.

It built the SS Canberra liner in the late 1950s and the Myrina in the 1960s, the first supertanker built in the UK, and was recently part of a consortium that won a major navy aircraft carrier and logistic vessels contract. Its yards are also active ship repairers.

The group employs 1,500 staff, a far cry from the more than 30,000 in the early twentieth century. It was founded in 1861.