A botched ferry service launched by Harland & Wolff owed £3m to creditors when it collapsed into administration earlier this year, filings have revealed.
Scilly Ferries was set up by the Titanic shipyard’s former management but its launch was repeatedly pushed back as the company battled financial crises. It was ultimately wound down before a single voyage was made.
The investment raised eyebrows from the get-go given Harland had no prior ferry operating experience and had already been spurned for a contract to replace the Scilly Isles’ ageing Scillonian III ferry service, which runs to and from the mainland.
Documents filed with Companies House now reveal the company owed more than £3m to creditors when it collapsed. Separate filings previously revealed its parent company, Harland & Wolff, owed more than £160m when it entered administration.
When Scilly Ferries’ planned summer launch was delayed in May, Harland & Wolff paid for a helicopter firm to offer disgruntled passengers a replacement service, City AM has learned.
Documents show a company called Starspeed Limited, which won a five-year contract in 2022 to run air transport services to and from Penzance heliport and the Scilly Isles, was owed £71,016 when Harland collapsed.
Harland’s then-chief executive, John Wood, said in May that talks were ongoing with local companies to “secure alternative arrangements” for passengers who had reserved with Scilly Ferries.
Some passengers on social media complained of late notice and poor communication having planned long journeys, while others were overjoyed by the prospect of an unexpected helicopter flight.
Starspeed did not respond to a request for comment.
Such expenditure will raise further questions over how money was spent in the lead up to what became Harland’s second administration in half a decade.
Approached by City AM for comment, Wood suggested questions would be “better directed at the directors that took over the business.”
“From looking at my notes, the decision not to commence [alternative] operations would have lost at least £6m in revenue in the first season,” he added, referring to the ferry operation.
He said the venture was due to break even in its first year and helicopter flight was accounted for due to the prospect of return trade from Starspeed over the summer, “when helicopters couldn’t fly due to fog.”
During the crisis and under new management, the company launched an internal probe into the misapplication of more than £25m in funds by its former leadership, which it said seemed to be of “little or no financial or corporate benefit.”
Other creditors also include the Labour party and a Labour-linked think tank, Progressive Britain, Irish News previously reported. They were owed £18,000 and £12,000 respectively.
More than two months since it went into administration, the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia now reportedly looks poised to buy Harland & Wolff in a deal that could save around 1,000 jobs.
Harland & Wolff did not respond to a request for comment.