Displaying items by tag: H&W Appledore

14th July 2022

Harland & Wolff's Appledore Shipyard Secures ‘Watershed’ Defence Contract

Harland & Wolff's Appledore Shipyard Secures ‘Watershed’ Defence ContractHarland & Wolff's Appledore shipyard has been awarded a £55m contract to regenerate a former Royal Navy mine-hunting vessel, with the "watershed" agreement set to support 100 jobs at the company's south-west England facility.

On behalf of the Lithuanian Government, the Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA) awarded the contract that will see HMS Quorn (see former fleetmate) renovated and restored at the Appledore Shipyard, bolstering NATO maritime capability in Europe.

Supporting ambitions to bolster British shipbuilding, the work will see an influx of contractors for the project across the local and national supply chain.

This includes 14 major subcontract packages in engineering, equipment and integration, along with other refurbishment services.

John Wood, group chief executive of Harland & Wolff, said: "This is a watershed moment. This contract has provided the breakthrough that we needed to activate the fifth and final element of our business strategy – the key market of defence.

More on the contract InsiderMedia has a report.

Published in Shipyards

Tagged under

H&W Appledore

12th February 2021

Harland & Wolff Announces Launch of Apprenticeship Scheme in Belfast & Appledore

Belfast Harbour is where the iconic shipyard of Harland & Wolff, with 160 years of maritime and offshore engineering pedigree, is launching a new apprenticeship scheme. In addition the opportunities will also apply to the H&W Appledore shipyard in Devon which AFLOAT adds built OPV's for the Irish Naval Service including the newest offshore patrol vessel LE Goerge Bernard Shaw.

Harland & Wolff has announced that it will soon be launching a new apprenticeship scheme at the 160 year old historic shipyard that last year notably signed a letter of intent to build ships again.

The scheme is set to officially launch later this year across both the flagship Belfast and the newly acquired Appledore sites, as Afloat reported. The Devon shipyard had up to 2018 built OPV's for the Naval Service.

Apprenticeships offered will be across three distinct functions, Trade, (welders, pipefitters, electricians, riggers, fabricators, etc) Technical, (engineers, naval architecture) and Business Support (sales, administration).

Highlights of the unique training programme will include practical on-the-job training, one to one mentoring alongside its experienced workforce, shipyard training facilities and the opportunity to earn while you learn.

As part of the scheme, apprentices will have the chance to experience working across Harland & Wolff’s five key sectors; cruise & ferries, defence, oil & gas, commercial and renewables, as well as across the full lifecycle of services it offers; technical services, building and fabrication, repair and maintenance, in service support, conversion, and decommissioning.

Prospective apprentices will be able to register their interest on the Harland & Wolff website here.

Harland & Wolff would also like to hear from any relevant apprentices who have been unable to complete their apprenticeship through the recent loss of employment.

Published in Jobs

Tagged under

7th September 2020

H&W Appledore to Host 'Career' Open Days for Prospective Workers At Renamed UK Shipyard

Appledore shipyard in Cornwall, UK is hosting career open days this week, Thursday and Friday. Above Afloat adds is the covered building hall of the shipyard on the banks of the River Torridge where the last ship floated-out was the Irish Naval Service L.E. George Bernard Shaw in March 2018. Late last month, Afloat also adds the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid a visit to the newly acquired Harland & Wolff (Appledore) shipyard. At the re-opening of the Cornish shipyard the PM commented that this will be a fantastic opportunity for the entire UK. We must get on and “build, build, build”.

Initial steps to getting local workers back through the gates of Appledore Shipyard in the UK began last week with two careers open days.

New operator Harland & Wolff is hosting to events at the Cornish site for prospective employees on Thursday, September 10 and Friday, September 11.

As NorthDevonGazette reports, the company says they are being held in readiness for ‘highly anticipated new contracts’ and says they will provide the opportunity to meet and speak with existing Harland & Wolff employees who can share their experiences.

The free events will run from 9am on Thursday and 8am on Friday, until 6pm on both days, with one hour time slots that can be booked via the Harland & Wolff website – details below.

The union Unite said it regarded the careers days as the first step in getting shipbuilding restarted as soon as possible at the renamed Harland and Wolff Appledore – but warned that will also need active involvement from the government.

Appledore shipyard was closed in March 2019 by previous owner Babcock after 164 years, with the loss of about 200 jobs.

For more click here in addition for prospective workers you can register here for the Career Open Days.

Afloat adds the shipyard has been renamed H&W Appledore near Bideford from where the last ship built at the south-west England shipyard was ordered by the Irish Government Department of Defence. This led to fourth OPV90 /P60 class L.E. George Bernard Shaw (P54) floated out on the River Torridge.

Published in Shipyards

Tagged under

25th August 2020

Historic UK Shipyard Appledore Acquired by Owners of Harland & Wolff

Appledore Shipyard on the River Torridge in north Devon has been acquired by owners of the Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff

In the UK the Appledore Shipyard in south-west England which built its last ship for the Irish Naval Service is set to reopen, it has been announced.

The historic shipyard as previously reported, has been acquired by Infrastrata, the owners of Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff.

The deal will see the shipyard, which was closed by Babcock in March 2019, renamed H&W Appledore.

Infrastrata acquired the Belfast yard in December 2019, and believe the Appledore facility will be the ‘go-to’ yard in the region for small vessel requirements.

It said while each yard will be a standalone business in its own right, Appledore would be ideally placed to handle any extra work from Belfast.

The acquisition only comes with one employee – the site manager – but the company believes the workforce can be ‘very quickly ramped up’ upon the execution of contracts, and said discussions with the Government and private vessels were already under way.

For further reading NorthDevonGazette has more.

Published in Shipyards

Tagged under

The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.