The Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff has created 50 new jobs with a new company to provide skilled labour for its offshore business.
Engineering and Industrial Services Limited employs fabricators, welders, pipefitters, and electricians, and total employment is expected to grow eventually to around 200.
The company is building a reputation as a supplier of specialist vessels to the offshore oil and gas industry. In March, it won an order worth $300 million from a subsidiary of the Texas company, Global Marine Inc. for the design and construction of a deepwater drillship.
It was the first contract the yard had been awarded by a US company since it started focussing on opportunities in this sector, and was described as "a major breakthrough" by Harland and Wolff chief executive Per Nielsen.
Scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of next year, the vessel will operate in depths of up to 9,000 feet in the Gulf of Mexico. A second similar drillship is due for delivery in the first quarter of the year 2000.
