The 163-year-old shipbuilder known for building Titanic has declared itself insolvent and put into administration. This is the second time in two years it has done this. The company’s board of directors said in a statement that there is a credible path forward for the company. Teneo, which handles administration under such circumstances, will take over the day-to-day operations of the company during this period. All non-core operations were already in the process of being shut down and employees in those areas are expected to lose their jobs. One marine services business is being sold, so it’s employees may retain their jobs.

The shipyards will remain open during this time and contracts it has will continue to be fulfilled. Of concern is a UK Royal Navy contract. A government spokesman said the government was concerned but has been told no jobs at the shipyard or core operations are at stake. Navantia, the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder, has expressed interest. Navantia is a partner in the program to build the Royal Navy vessels in which Harland & Wolff is a subcontractor. The UK defense contractor Babcock International is also interested as well. Creditors will be the first to get any payments required under any contracts they have with the company. Shareholders in the publicly traded company (trading in the stock was stopped a while back) will lose their investment.

Sources:

Campbell, John. “Titanic Shipyard to Go Into Administration.” Last modified September 16, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkddrv7v2po.

Ziaddy, Hanna. “The 163-year-old Company That Built the Titanic Says It Is Insolvent.” CNN, September 16, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/16/business/harland-wolff-titanic-shipbuilder-insolvent/index.html.

In other Titanic News

Rissman, Kelly. “Titan Sub Hearing Live Updates: Former OceanGate Employee Admits He Had ‘No Confidence’ in Ship’s Design.” The Independent, September 17, 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/titan-sub-submersible-last-message-bodies-implosion-hearing-b2614007.html.

David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations who worked at the company from 2015 to 2018, told the panel about the “red flags” he witnessed, including co-founder Stockton Rush’s desire to qualify a pilot in one day — typically a lengthy process. He also painted a picture of Rush’s personality. He walked through a harrowing incident when Rush’s bungled dive to the Andrea Doria wreckage site ended in Rush throwing a “PlayStation controller” at Lochridge’s head. Lochridge issued an inspection report in January 2018 detailing his laundry list of concerns with an early version of the Titan. He was fired not long after.

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Rissman, Kelly. “Final Messages Revealed From the Titan Sub Before Tragic Implosion.” The Independent, September 17, 2024. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/titan-submersible-last-words-final-message-coast-guard-b2614008.html.

“All good here.” Those were some of the final words that the doomed Titan submersible crew communicated before the submersible imploded on its mission to the Titanic wreckage site in June 2023. The message, revealed as part of the Coast Guard’s Monday hearing into the circumstances of the failed mission, was sent to support vessel Polar Prince on June 18, 2023, shortly before the submersible imploded, killing all five of its crew members. It was an incident that captivated both sides of the Atlantic as crews made a mad dash to save the crew after the sub lost contact with the surface – with the world unaware that the lives had been lost.

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Associated Press. “Titanic Troubles: Engineer Says He Felt Pressured to Get Submersible Ready.” Boston Herald, September 16, 2024. https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/09/16/titanic-troubles-engineer-says-he-felt-pressured-to-get-submersible-ready/.

The lead engineer for an experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic testified Monday that he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier. “‘I’m not getting in it,’” Tony Nissen said he told Stockton Rush, co-founder of the OceanGate company that owned the Titan submersible.

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Suggested Reading

Marshall, L. (2019). Sinking of the Titanic: The Greatest Disaster At Sea – Special Edition with Additional Photographs. Independently Published.

Rossignol, K. (2012). Titanic 1912: The Original News Reporting of the Sinking of the Titanic. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

Wilson, A. (2012). Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived. Simon and Schuster.