Highland yard owner accused troubled shipbuilding giant of 'destroying' businesses

Donald Sharman, who runs Mallaig Boat Yard, said he initially received a text message informing him that the land where his business was based had been sold to Harland & Wolff. The next day, he added, he received a letter stating that his trade had to be “locked up” around three months later.

Mr Sharman said that since his business left the port town, other businesses and the wider community had suffered because no one else was available to repair vessels. According to the Herald on Sunday, the land on which Mr Sharman’s site was based was sold last year by local businessman, Finlay Finlayson, to Harland & Wolff.

The shipbuilding firm was once one of the most prolific builders of ocean liners in the world and is best known for building the Titanic. However, it announced last month that it had formally entered administration for the second time in five years. Its main yard is in Belfast, but it has other operations, including those in Methil and Arnish in Scotland.

The administration process, which is being overseen by Gavin Park and Matt Cowlishaw of Teneo Financial Advisory, is confined to the holding company, Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc, with the operational companies which run the yards continuing to trade.

At the time of the buyout of the land in Mallaig, Harland & Wolff was headed up by chief executive, John Wood. He left in July after the firm announced it was winding down its “non-core” business lines. Mr Sharman said he had carried out repairs for Mr Wood on one of his private boats.

He told the Herald on Sunday: “I got a text message on September 9 last year to tell me that the boatyard had been sold to Harland & Wolff and I got a letter the next day saying we had to be locked up by December 4 or around that date.

“It was a big shock because we were in the process of negotiating a new lease. They [Harland & Wolff] came in and made a vague attempt to advertise for an apprentice but never got going.”

Mr Sharman, who has since re-located his business to Corpach in Fort William, said he was surprised that a major company would “taken an interest in a little backyard boatyard in the middle of nowhere that could do only a quarter of what they said they were intending to do with it.”

He said the repercussions of his firm’s location were being felt in Mallaig, adding: “The local community in Mallaig is left with a vacant hole in the centre of the village. It was a tourist hotspot, we were supporting visitors to the marina. Staff at the yard would put back into other businesses - we all supported each other.

“Harland & Wolff have destroyed a local business and the businesses that we were supporting.”

Harland & Wolff has been approached for comment.