Samson and Goliath (cranes)

At its height Harland & Wolff boasted 35,000 employees and a healthy order book, but in the years following the cranes' construction the workforce and business declined.

Northern Ireland Office Minister of the time Angela Smith stated: "These cranes are an essential part of our city, our roots and our culture."

[1] Shipbuilding has declined in Belfast, but the cranes are to be retained as part of the existing dry dock facility within the restructured shipyard, situated adjacent to the Titanic Quarter, a business, light industrial, leisure and residential development on land now surplus to the heavy industrial requirements of the shipyard on Queen's Island.

[3][4] In October 2007, Goliath re-entered service after five years, an occurrence described by a company spokesman as underlining the yard's growing workload.

[citation needed] First shown in February 2021, Goliath appears repeatedly as part of series 1 of BBC One's drama Bloodlands, with postcards of the crane a key clue in the murder investigation.