New management on board as vessel work gets underway at Harland and Wolff

InfraStrata PLC has announced the appointment of a new management team for Harland & Wolff (Belfast) Limited.
Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

In addition, a new wholly-owned subsidiary has been incorporated, Harland & Wolff Technical Services Limited.

This business will include all the company’s engineering functions internally, as well as serving external clients globally.

The team includes John Petticrew, managing director, who was most recently vice president operations at Seaspan Shipyard in Vancouver, which has 2,000 employees

Paul Blake is operations director and was previously head of projects at ASRY (Arab Shipbuilding & Repair YardCo) in Bahrain.

They are joined by Stephen Mills and Mark Giles as sales directors with substantial experience of securing contracts across a range of targeted sectors from around the world.

The company added it is currently finalising the appointment of a new commercial and business development director.

Commenting on the appointments, John Wood, interim chairman and CEO of InfraStrata - which is also behind the proposed storage of gas in underground caverns at Islandmagee, Co Antrim - said: “The establishment of a dedicated management team headed up by John Petticrew, at Harland & Wolff is a significant milestone for InfraStrata.

“Their combined experience of delivering and securing projects at large-scale fabrication facilities around the world means that our new business division is poised for an exciting period of growth.

“It also means that the board is well positioned to maintain its focus on our flagship Islandmagee Gas Storage project.”

The team has commenced the business’s first contract with the docking of the Sea Trucks Performance vessel on December 21.

Mr Wood added: “It was a pleasure to have been in the yard this weekend to witness the first docking since we acquired the facility on 4th December 2019. Additionally, discussions with the Spanish shipbuilder, Navantia, continue to progress at pace after the execution of the Memorandum of Understanding (‘MoU’) with them.

“I am excited about the future of this iconic business and am confident that we can return the Harland & Wolff brand to its former glory.”