Shipyards Directory

Harland & Wolff (Belfast)

shipyard Belfast, United Kingdom

Harland & Wolff's Belfast shipyard is now part of Navantia UK, which acquired the Harland & Wolff business and its four historic yards in 2025. The Belfast yard undertakes shipbuilding and heavy steel fabrication and is a manufacturing centre for the £1.6 billion Fleet Solid Support (FSS) programme, building three 216-metre replenishment vessels for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Navantia UK employs more than 1,200 people across yards at Appledore, Arnish, Belfast and Methil, with programme, engineering and corporate teams in Bristol and London, and is investing over £157 million in modernising its facilities.

Harland & Wolff (Belfast)

Founded in Belfast in 1861 by Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff, the yard has built more than 1,700 ships, including 175 for the Royal Navy. Since 2025 it has formed part of Navantia UK, a British business established in 2022 within the Navantia group, which acquired Harland & Wolff and its four yards along with the £1.6 billion Fleet Solid Support programme. The Belfast yard is being modernised as a sovereign shipbuilding asset, with £77 million of infrastructure investment earmarked across the Belfast and Appledore shipyards.

Services

  • Shipbuilding and block fabrication
  • Heavy steel structures for the offshore energy sector
  • Naval architecture, design and digital engineering
  • Planning, procurement and programme management
  • Apprenticeships, trade training and skills transfer from Navantia SA

Facilities

  • Belfast shipyard, part of a four-yard network with Appledore, Arnish and Methil
  • Digital engineering capability including 3D design, digital twins, robotic welding and real-time production monitoring
  • COEX (Centers of Operations and Execution) for real-time project monitoring using AI and big data
  • Monodon digital twin platform for shipbuilding and maintenance
  • Trade workforce of platers, welders, pipefitters, electricians and outfitters

Vessel Types

  • Fleet Solid Support vessels for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary — three ships, 216 m length, 34.5 m beam, 39,000 tonnes displacement, four main engines, delivering munitions, stores and provisions to the Royal Navy fleet
  • Historically naval vessels including wartime aircraft carriers and Normandy landing craft

Location

  • Belfast, Northern Ireland
  • Sister yards at Appledore (North Devon), Arnish (Stornoway, Isle of Lewis) and Methil (Fife)
  • Programme, engineering and corporate teams in Bristol and London

The FSS programme is delivered by Team Resolute, a partnership of Navantia, Harland & Wolff and UK designer BMT, supporting the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh. It is expected to involve 1,000 manufacturing jobs, with around 800 further roles sustained across the UK supply chain and some 120 high-skilled jobs at BMT.