- guardian.co.uk, Sunday March 2 2003 01.28 GMT
- The Observer, Sunday March 2 2003
From this month, the world-famous firm will be known as an SME or 'small to medium enterprise'.
The former shipbuilder now employs just 135 people, a shadow of its former glory days when up to 30,000 men worked in the yard. At present it occupies just 80 acres of the 360-acre site dominated by the giant yellow cranes, known in the city as Samson and Goliath.
As Harland and Wolff awaits news of a vital Ministry of Defence contract, its chief executive was philosophical about the historic change from shipbuilding giant to small business.
'It is a recognition of the new realities of shipbuilding,' said Robert Cooper, as he stared out over the desolate dry dock. 'The Koreans and the Chinese are now the world's leading shipbuilders. It will be a very long time before a ship is built from scratch in Belfast again.
'So we have to move on and market the great engineering skills developed here.'
Surrounded by glass-encased models of ships his company built, Cooper pointed to new ventures that will keep it afloat.
'We have refitted vessels such as the Stena Line's HSS boats that run between Northern Ireland and Britain. We have up to 10 engineers working on a ship docked in San Diego. Our aim is to market our skills around the world and sell them to shipping and engineering firms. We can only do that as a small business.'
