Harland & Wolff won the contract to dismantle part of the MSC NAPOLI

New ship recycling venture at Harland & Wolff
Diversification continues in wake of MSC NAPOLI scrapping contract...



 Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries and environmental management consultancy Golder Associates have joined forces with V.Navy, part of the world’s biggest marine, energy and financial services outsourcing firm V.Group to provide unique full-service, environmentally sound and socially responsible ship recovery and recycling.

Launched on Wednesday November 21 this venture is the first to provide a stand-alone, fully certified, ecologically and socially responsible, end-to-end European ship dismantling solution. Services will be available to both military and commercial ship owners.

V.Navy President Arnoult Gauthier comments, “For some time now we have been looking to partner with like-minded industry leaders who share our vision on responsible ship recycling and who can complement our areas of specialisation which include direct involvement with leading lobby groups, strong long-term relationships with owners of more than 900 commercial and military ships, broad technical knowledge of all vessel types and expertise in financial, insurance and re-insurance solutions. Harland and Wolff and Golder Associates are ideal partners to turn our vision into reality.”

Harland and Wolff was recently awarded a waste management licence for the dismantling of marine vessels and marine structures, and is in the process of completing the decommissioning and recycling of the MSC Napoli in cooperation with Golder Associates.

Harland and Wolff chief executive Robert J Cooper says the company’s diversification strategy has paid dividends, seeing the ship builder develop its services such as module manufacturing, design engineering, ship repair and conversion and move into new green markets of marine-based renewable energy technology and ship dismantling.

“We have utilized Harland and Wolff’s vast experience and comprehensive facilities to offer the marketplace an alternative to traditional ship breaking. I am delighted that this venture is now in place as it provides the customer with a through-life solution.” says Mr Cooper.

Golder Associates spokesman Mark Gilligan says: “We entered into this venture with the aim of utilising Harland and Wolff’s unique facilities to raise the standards of ship and offshore structure decommissioning and to establish a solution for European ship recycling. Extending this venture to include V.Navy places the three businesses at the front edge of this emerging market.”

“The dismantling of ships has long been a reason for concern and while this activity is sustainable from a narrow point of view in certain developing countries, the costs to human health and the environment are high.”

“The provision of this service gives ship owners an alternative with integrity and sets high standards for other ship recycling centres to follow .” he says.