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Harland & Wolff
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Harland & Wolff
Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding and fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction.
Today, the company is focused on supporting five sectors: Defence, Energy, Cruise & Ferry, Renewables and Commercial. It offers services including technical services, fabrication & construction, repair & maintenance, in-service support, conversion and decommissioning.
Having entered administration for the second time in five years, it was bought by Navantia in January 2025.
Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the White Star Line in the early 20th century, including the Olympic-class trio – RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic. Their notable ships also include the Royal Navy's HMS Belfast; Royal Mail Line's flagship Andes; Shaw, Savill & Albion's Southern Cross; Union-Castle's RMS Pendennis Castle; P&O's Canberra; and Hamburg-America's Amerika of 1905.
In 2022, the company was awarded a major naval contract as part of Team Resolute (alongside Navantia UK and BMT), to deliver the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's three new Fleet Solid Support vessels. Harland and Wolff's official history, Shipbuilders to the World, was published in 1986.
Harland & Wolff was formed in 1861 by Edward Harland (1831–1895) and Hamburg-born Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1834–1913) who had moved to England aged 15, and then to Ireland in 1857. In 1858 Harland, then general manager, bought the small shipyard on Queen's Island from his employer Robert Hickson.
After buying Hickson's shipyard, Harland made his assistant Wolff a partner in the company. Wolff was the nephew of Gustav Schwabe, Hamburg, who was heavily invested in the Bibby Line, and the first three ships that the newly incorporated shipyard built were for that line. Harland made a success of the business through several innovations, notably replacing the wooden upper decks with iron ones which increased the strength of the ships; and giving the hulls a flatter bottom and squarer cross section, which increased their capacity. Walter Henry Wilson became a partner of the company in 1874.
When Harland died in 1895, William James Pirrie became the chairman of the company and remained so until his death in 1924.
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Harland & Wolff
Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding and fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction.
Today, the company is focused on supporting five sectors: Defence, Energy, Cruise & Ferry, Renewables and Commercial. It offers services including technical services, fabrication & construction, repair & maintenance, in-service support, conversion and decommissioning.
Having entered administration for the second time in five years, it was bought by Navantia in January 2025.
Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the White Star Line in the early 20th century, including the Olympic-class trio – RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic. Their notable ships also include the Royal Navy's HMS Belfast; Royal Mail Line's flagship Andes; Shaw, Savill & Albion's Southern Cross; Union-Castle's RMS Pendennis Castle; P&O's Canberra; and Hamburg-America's Amerika of 1905.
In 2022, the company was awarded a major naval contract as part of Team Resolute (alongside Navantia UK and BMT), to deliver the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's three new Fleet Solid Support vessels. Harland and Wolff's official history, Shipbuilders to the World, was published in 1986.
Harland & Wolff was formed in 1861 by Edward Harland (1831–1895) and Hamburg-born Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1834–1913) who had moved to England aged 15, and then to Ireland in 1857. In 1858 Harland, then general manager, bought the small shipyard on Queen's Island from his employer Robert Hickson.
After buying Hickson's shipyard, Harland made his assistant Wolff a partner in the company. Wolff was the nephew of Gustav Schwabe, Hamburg, who was heavily invested in the Bibby Line, and the first three ships that the newly incorporated shipyard built were for that line. Harland made a success of the business through several innovations, notably replacing the wooden upper decks with iron ones which increased the strength of the ships; and giving the hulls a flatter bottom and squarer cross section, which increased their capacity. Walter Henry Wilson became a partner of the company in 1874.
When Harland died in 1895, William James Pirrie became the chairman of the company and remained so until his death in 1924.
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