#H&Wdirector- Harland & Wolff Heavy Industries has appointed James Lappin as the new Director of Ship & Offshore Unit Repair.

The new position will involve total responsibility for developing and growing the Belfast company's business in this sector and execution of its projects.

Lappin who is a Mechanical Engineer joined Harland & Wolff as a Graduate Trainee Manager in 1999 before leaving to develop his career with blue chip offshore energy companies including BP, KBR and Fred Olsen Renewables.

In 2011 he re-joined H&W as Ship & Offshore Unit Repair Manager, overseeing a range of projects.

Among them as previously reported on Afloat.ie the Husky SeaRose FPSO (see photo) a floating production storage offshore vessel and more recently the Blackford Dolphin Drilling Rig project.

#H&Wlosses - Harland & Wolff, the shipbuilder-turned renewable energy giant manufacturer, suffered a £3.8m loss in 2013, according to newly-filed results.

Directors have said that the "very unsatisfactory" results were down to escalating project costs, leading to a review of the organisation, its structure and processes.

The group generated an operating loss of £3.8m on a turnover of £32m after two profitable years of trading and a good performance in a number of sectors in 2013.
In its annual report, the company said its flotation tank project with Norwegian firm Kvaerner Verdal AS had incurred "significant cost overruns".

However, the annual report said that the overall financial position of the company remained strong and debt free and that it was taking measures to ensure the losses were "a one-off and will not be repeated".
To read much more on this story, The Belfast Telegraph has a report HERE.

#GiantOilRig – A giant oil rig, initially set for a whistle-stop 60-day renovation project in Belfast, will now see the Blackford Dolphin remain in the city's docks until June.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Blackford Dolphin, a 360ft high structure sailed into the Harland & Wolff shipyard in early December from Brazil for a refit.

In March, following the discovery of the need for additional "emergent" work, the rig's owners Dolphin Drilling told the Norwegian Stock Exchange that the work would continue until April.

However, that deadline has now been extended again for almost another two months – and the race is on to finish the work. For more on this story, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

#GiantFPSO - Work on another oil rig completed by Harland & Wolff in 2012 had helped clinch the multi-million pound Blackford Dolphin deal, writes The Belfast Telegraph.

One thousand workers helped completed the one-month project on the SeaRose FPSO "floating production, storage and offloading vessel" for the Canadian firm Husky Energy.

As pictured above by Afloat.ie, the giant floating factory left Belfast four days early, under budget and with no injuries or environmental incidents, before sailing to Newfoundland.

Once the current job is completed, the Blackford Dolphin as previously reported on Afloat.ie will move to the North Sea, where it will begin its next drilling contract with MPX and Capricorn, respectively. Despite the decline in shipbuilding, Harland & Wolff is carving a new niche in the offshore and renewables markets.

The most recent ship built at the yard was the MV Anvil Point, which left Harland & Wolff in 2003. It was owned by a consortium including the Bibby Line company, ironically the owners of the Venetian, the very first ship built by the Belfast shipyard.

#OilRig- As previously reported a giant offshore drilling platform standing 360ft high has made its way from Brazil to Northern Ireland for maintenance, before being redeployed to the North Sea.

The Belfast Telegraph which has more on this story writes that this is one of the biggest oil rigs ever to be refurbished at Harland & Wolff shipyard and was towed at a snail's pace across the Atlantic to Belfast, taking more than three months to get here.

The shipyard's landmark yellow gantry cranes, Samson and Goliath, have had to be moved along their tracks to the city end of the building dock for the 60-day duration of the refurbishment contract.

#OilRig – Harland & Wolff are to recruit 600 skilled tradesmen to work on one of the biggest oil rigs to be refurbished in Belfast.

According to the Belfast Telegraph which has more on this story, the giant offshore drilling platform Blackford Dolphin is on its way from Brazil to Northern Ireland for maintenance before being redeployed to the North Sea.

The contract worth tens of millions of pounds to Harland and Wolff shipyard and will take almost two months to complete.

#TitanicDrawingOffice- Northern Ireland's Alliance East Belfast MLA Judith Cochrane has welcomed the £5m grant from the UK's Heritage Lottery Fund programme that will restore the Harland & Wolff headquarters building and drawing offices in the Titanic Quarter.

Build.ie reports that the Grade B+ listed building will be turned into a boutique hotel which will create 109 jobs.

Judith Cochrane MLA said: "It is great news that a key part of our shipbuilding heritage will be restored with this grant. I hope this new hotel will become another place for tourists to see part of the Titanic's history.

"The new jobs created by this hotel will be a big boost to the local economy."

#BelfastLough – Belfast's Harland and Wolff Group (H&W) continues to operate as an expanding diverse engineering business.

The group has a number of special capabilities related to marine engineering and design, ship repair, and including offshore wind-farm fabrication. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Norwegian Fred Olsen Energy Group.

In 2012, H&W enjoyed a significant increase in turnover and improved its profitability. This followed a loss in 2010 when trading conditions were described as 'externally challenging' and a recovery in 2011. For more on this story The Belfast Telegraph reports.

#HMSBelfast – The Thames floating landmark, HMS Belfast celebrates its 75th anniversary, coinciding with this weekend's St. Patrick festivities held on both sides of the Irish Sea, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Town-Class cruiser was launched on St. Patrick's Day 1938 from Harland & Wolff, Belfast. She is one of the last surviving WW2 warships remaining in UK waters. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy the following year and placed under the command of Captain G.A. Scott DSO.

During her career, HMS Belfast opened fire in support of Allied troops during the D-Day landing, was on escort duty during Artic convoys of merchant ships in addition to involvement in the Korean War.

To commemorate the historical significance of HMS Belfast, which has been moored on the Thames since 1971 as a major tourist attraction, a series of special events are to be held this weekend.

Her Belfast-based counterpart, the C-Class light cruiser HMS Caroline, which served in World War I having been built in 1914 at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, lies on the Lagan.

As previously reported, the fate of the former Battle of Jutland survivor was secured following last year's decision to protect the vessel from falling into disrepair with a £1m restoration grant.

On completion of the work on the veteran vessel now in her 99th year, she is to become a major tourist attraction likewise of HMS Belfast.

#Titanic - An Australian mining millionaire has unveiled his plans to resurrect the Titanic for the 21st century, as The Irish Times reports.

Clive Palmer wants to build a new version of the ill-fated cruise liner - to be dubbed Titanic II - recreating the style and comfort of the original, but with modern navigational instruments and enough lifeboats for all on board.

"Titanic was a ship of dreams and Titanic II promises to be the ship where dreams come true," he told reporters at the Ritz Hotel in London last week.

Already he claims that 40,000 people have enquired about passage, and 16 individuals have offered $1 million each for a state room on the new liner for its maiden voyage after the vessel is completed in late 2016.

Titanic II will not be an exact replica of its predecessor, as it's planned to be four metres wider to provide greater stability, as well as featuring stabilisers and reverse propellers to provide for a more comfortable voyage.

It will also not be built at Harland & Wolff, the Belfast Lough shipyards that constructed the original White Star Line vessel, instead being contracted to the world record-holding large ship facilities at Jiangsu in China.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.