The company Harland and Wolff was formed in the year 1861, by Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, born within Hamburg in the year 1834, together with Mr. Edward James Harland born in 1831. During 1858 Harland, who was the general manager at the time, bought the small shipyard on Queen's Island. He purchased the property from Robert Hickson, who was his employer.
Harland at one time bought Hickson's shipyard and made his assistant Wolff a partner in the business. Gustav Wolff was Gustav Schwabe of Hamburg's nephew. He has invested mainly in the Bibby Line. The initial 3 ships which the brand new shipyard constructed were for that line. By being inventive, Harland made the business a successful venture. One of his well-known suggestions was increasing the overall strength of the ship by using iron for the upper wodden decks. As well, he was able to increase the ship's capacity by giving the hulls a flatter bottom and a square cross section.
Harland and Wolff eventually experienced competitive pressures in regards to building ships. They sought to shift their focus and broaden their portfolio. They chose to concentrate less on shipbuilding and more on structural engineering and design. The business also diversified into the fields of ship repair, offshore construction projects as well as competing for additional projects which had to do with construction and metal engineering.
Harland and Wolff had other interests, like a series of bridges to be built in Britain and in the Republic of Ireland. These bridges consist of the restoration of both the James Joyce Bridge and Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge. During the 1980s, with the construction of the Foyle Bridge, their first venture into the civil engineering sector took place.
The MV Anvil Point was the last shipbuilding project of Harland and Wolff to date. This was among six almost identical Point class sealift ships which was built for use by the Ministry of Defense. During the year 2003, the ship was launched, after being constructed under license from Flensburger, Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, German shipbuilders.