Lull in orders forces Arnish redundancies 23/5/12
The Arnish fabrication yard on Lewis is making a further nineteen workers redundant after a lull in orders.
The latest round of pay-
On Friday, the final components for its last order was shipped out from Lewis on the MV Scot Explorer for the Gobal Tech 1 offshore wind farm in Germany.
The crane used for the heavy lifts of oil field and wind farm structures on the Arnish quayside has been sent off the island.
Twelve staff working on the German contract were made redundant on Friday with another seven people due to go this week.
A large number of sub-
The remaining core squad of employees are expected keep their jobs meanwhile with the expectation of fresh work in the near future.
A spokesperson for development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) which
has invested heavily in the yard said: "The present lull in work is temporary and
we expect job numbers to rise again as Bi-
"The crane which has been removed was hired by Bi-
Under Bi-
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is backing an on-
The rolling plant will be the core element of an upgraded production line at BiFab, which will be used for the growing offshore wind market and the continued expansion into wave and tidal energy.
HIE previously said the installation of the new equipment could lead to more than 75 additional highly skilled jobs at Arnish over the next few years and strengthen the yard’s position in the marine renewables market.
HIE has invested around £15 million in Arnish over the last 11 years and the Scottish Government’s National Renewables Infrastructure Plan (NRIP) positions Arnish as a key location in the sector.
BiFab recently completed both the Oyster II wave device and the Hammerfest Strøm tidal device for ScottishPower Renewables. These prototypes were fabricated between BiFab’s sites at Arnish and Methil in Fife.
Meanwhile, many of the ninety workers who lost their jobs from collapsed UB Construction attended redundancy advice events in Stornoway and South Uist today.
The last order being shipped out