Shipyard back on top with major project

AHUGE £2million cargo vessel is due to arrive at Devon’s Appledore shipyard marking its revival as a major engineering facility.

The MT Entsha offshore supply ship is expected to arrive at the shipyard during the third week of October.

Fabrication work has already started on a major crane upgrade at the yard and on the creation of a mezzanine deck as part of wider conversion works that will be undertaken once the vessel has docked.

The Appledore shipyard was bought by InfraStrata Plc, owner of Harland & Wolff, for £7million in August 2020 after previous owner Babcock International Group Plc closed it a year earlier.

And now work on the Entsha effectively reactivates Harland & Wolff (Appledore)’s fabrication halls and demonstrates the yard’s readiness to take on larger and more complex works programmes.

In June 2021, Cornwall’s Inyanga Marine Projects raised £2m to fund the purchase of the Entsha, a computer-controlled DP2 multi-purpose cargo vessel, that will be based out of Falmouth.

The work is among a series of key contract wins for Harland & Wolff, the wholly owned subsidiary of InfraStrata plc, soon to be known as Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc.

Team Resolute, a UK consortium consisting of Harland & Wolff, Spanish shipyard Navantia, and BMT, has been down-selected by the Ministry of Defence for the Fleet Solid Support Programme and has been invited into the next phase of the programme – the Commercial Procurement Phase (CPP).

The stores-carrying Solid Support Ships come under the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and don’t have to be built in the UK, unlike warships.

Also, as the UK Government recently launched the National Shipbuilding

Office, an announcement was made that the Harland & Wolff led consortium that includes Foreship and SMC has been successfully down-selected for the design phase of the prestigious National Flagship Programme.

The ship, the first of its kind to be built and commissioned by the UK, will be built in the UK with construction expected to begin as soon as next year. The vessel will be used to boost British trade and drive investment into the economy.