Harland and Wolff said it would lay off 280 workers this week. The shipyard recently secured its future by winning orders for four ferries worth $456 million and two cruise
liners worth $350 million, but they will only take effect towards the end of the year. "There is the order for the four Ropax ferries and there is also a letter of understanding for two luxury cruise liners. However there is a time lag until the full benefit of these orders feeds through, unfortunately making these redundancies necessary," a spokesman said.