Mail Column
Corus in the Teesside area has been in the news for the last few months, very often for the wrong reasons.
The mothballing of the plant at Redcar is a devastating blow for that town and the surrounding area. I know that Vera Baird and the late Ashok Kumar have been leading the fight to try to secure a buyer, but it has been bleak news.
In contrast, however, is this weeks news that the Corus pipe mill in Hartlepool has secured a £200 million contract. The Hartlepool site will provide new pipelines for the Laggan and Tormore gas field projects in the North Sea.
This order will safeguard approximately 250 jobs in Hartlepool and has the potential to create an additional 100 jobs. There will also be positive implications in terms of the supply chain to the pipe mill, helping to secure and expand more jobs in the local area for those businesses who provide goods and services to Corus.
Im pleased that the Prime Minister paid tribute to Hartlepool in the House of Commons yesterday for winning this substantial contract.
Securing this order in Hartlepool demonstrates that the pipe mills on the site are world class. It fills me with confidence that, as the oil and gas fields across the world are becoming more challenging, there is a greater need for the highest possible specification of refinery and pipe work. The fields off the coast of Brazil, for example, need substantial infrastructure and refining capability before they can be used. Given the expertise in this industry of firms in our area- not just Corus but also Heerema Hartlepool- and the skill of the workers of the town, with a reputation for excellent, specialised and professional expertise in this sort of engineering, I think there is scope for many years for us to have a cluster of world class engineering in the energy sector.
This is not only the case for oil and gas, but for renewable industries, as well as nuclear engineering. However, these things dont happen by chance. You cant just leave it to the market and hope for the best. The global economy doesnt work like that. The Budget from the Chancellor yesterday provided money from the Government to promote a low carbon manufacturing economy, with things like the Green Investment Bank that will support investment in low-carbon infrastructure jobs and industries. This is exactly the sort of thing that could benefit Hartlepool. Of even more potential is the £60 million investment from the Budget to develop UK port sites to support offshore wind turbine manufacturers. Given what we have already with companies such as Heerema and JDR Cables, this is something that Im determined will benefit Hartlepool.
I have said this before, but its worth saying again: I think Hartlepool and the wider Teesside area has the potential to be synonymous with energy, in the same way that Aberdeen was in the 1980s and 1990s.
It has been a good week for manufacturing in our town, and I think it demonstrates that manufacturing in the North East, and Hartlepool in particular, can have a great future and can compete with the highest level of competition across the world.
The mothballing of the plant at Redcar is a devastating blow for that town and the surrounding area. I know that Vera Baird and the late Ashok Kumar have been leading the fight to try to secure a buyer, but it has been bleak news.
In contrast, however, is this weeks news that the Corus pipe mill in Hartlepool has secured a £200 million contract. The Hartlepool site will provide new pipelines for the Laggan and Tormore gas field projects in the North Sea.
This order will safeguard approximately 250 jobs in Hartlepool and has the potential to create an additional 100 jobs. There will also be positive implications in terms of the supply chain to the pipe mill, helping to secure and expand more jobs in the local area for those businesses who provide goods and services to Corus.
Im pleased that the Prime Minister paid tribute to Hartlepool in the House of Commons yesterday for winning this substantial contract.
Securing this order in Hartlepool demonstrates that the pipe mills on the site are world class. It fills me with confidence that, as the oil and gas fields across the world are becoming more challenging, there is a greater need for the highest possible specification of refinery and pipe work. The fields off the coast of Brazil, for example, need substantial infrastructure and refining capability before they can be used. Given the expertise in this industry of firms in our area- not just Corus but also Heerema Hartlepool- and the skill of the workers of the town, with a reputation for excellent, specialised and professional expertise in this sort of engineering, I think there is scope for many years for us to have a cluster of world class engineering in the energy sector.
This is not only the case for oil and gas, but for renewable industries, as well as nuclear engineering. However, these things dont happen by chance. You cant just leave it to the market and hope for the best. The global economy doesnt work like that. The Budget from the Chancellor yesterday provided money from the Government to promote a low carbon manufacturing economy, with things like the Green Investment Bank that will support investment in low-carbon infrastructure jobs and industries. This is exactly the sort of thing that could benefit Hartlepool. Of even more potential is the £60 million investment from the Budget to develop UK port sites to support offshore wind turbine manufacturers. Given what we have already with companies such as Heerema and JDR Cables, this is something that Im determined will benefit Hartlepool.
I have said this before, but its worth saying again: I think Hartlepool and the wider Teesside area has the potential to be synonymous with energy, in the same way that Aberdeen was in the 1980s and 1990s.
It has been a good week for manufacturing in our town, and I think it demonstrates that manufacturing in the North East, and Hartlepool in particular, can have a great future and can compete with the highest level of competition across the world.