Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

RBC Brewin Dolphin proudly supporting Afloat and Irish Boating

Isle of Lewis Yard Secures First Contract Under New Owners of Belfast’s Harland & Wolff

26th February 2025
An additional 30 workers will be needed at the Scottish island of Lewis where the yard at Arnish is to complete the contract for Caribbean.
An additional 30 workers will be needed at the Scottish island of Lewis where the yard at Arnish is to complete the contract for Caribbean. Credit: Harland & Wolff-X

Off west Scotland, the Arnish fabrication yard on the Isle of Lewis has won its first major contract under its new Spanish owners, who also acquired the Belfast shipyard of Harland & Wolff.

The yard, located on the largest island of the Outer Hebrides archipelago, will manufacture subsea structures for use in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. Around 140 are employed at the Arnish facility, which is near Stornoway, the capital of Lewis and Harris.

In addition to 30 workers who will be required to complete the contract for a year-long duration.

Another yard in Scotland, but on the east coast at Methil in Fife, was also taken over by the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia in December.
This took place following a buyout of the iconic Belfast-based Harland & Wolff.

BBC News has more on this development.

Published in Shipyards
Jehan Ashmore

About The Author

Jehan Ashmore

Email The Author

Jehan Ashmore is a marine correspondent, researcher and photographer, specialising in Irish ports, shipping and the ferry sector serving the UK and directly to mainland Europe. Jehan also occasionally writes a column, 'Maritime' Dalkey for the (Dalkey Community Council Newsletter) in addition to contributing to UK marine periodicals. 

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Direct Donation to Afloat button

Shipyards

Afloat will be focusing on news and developments of shipyards with newbuilds taking shape on either slipways and building halls.

The common practice of shipbuilding using modular construction, requires several yards make specific block sections that are towed to a single designated yard and joined together to complete the ship before been launched or floated out.

In addition, outfitting quays is where internal work on electrical and passenger facilities is installed (or upgraded if the ship is already in service). This work may involve newbuilds towed to another specialist yard, before the newbuild is completed as a new ship or of the same class, designed from the shipyard 'in-house' or from a naval architect consultancy. Shipyards also carry out repair and maintenance, overhaul, refit, survey, and conversion, for example, the addition or removal of cabins within a superstructure. All this requires ships to enter graving /dry-docks or floating drydocks, to enable access to the entire vessel out of the water.

Asides from shipbuilding, marine engineering projects such as offshore installations take place and others have diversified in the construction of offshore renewable projects, from wind-turbines and related tower structures. When ships are decommissioned and need to be disposed of, some yards have recycling facilities to segregate materials, though other vessels are run ashore, i.e. 'beached' and broken up there on site. The scrapped metal can be sold and made into other items.