Newry ship refurbisher MJM Marine has told its staff that redundancies “in large numbers” are unavoidable after all future orders were postponed indefinitely amid the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
The Belfast Telegraph reports on an internal communication to staff yesterday (Tuesday 17 March), which said that one current project can be completed next month by a small number of staff — but there is no prospect of securing any new orders, potentially until 2022.
It added: “The consequence of the spread of Covid-19 and the steps that are being taken globally to arrest the spread of the virus have had a catastrophic impact upon businesses generally and I am afraid that this company is no exception.”
MJM Marine employs 270 staff across three European offices, with the majority at its Newry base in Northern Ireland.