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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-offs will reduce it to 25 or so staff compared to workforce numbers of over 150 six months ago.

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-contracted employees from Fife were initially released around December and forty local sub-contracted personnel lost their jobs at the yard last month.

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-Fab are released new work design details.

"The crane which has been removed was hired by Bi-Fab for the duration of the German contract and is now needed by hire company on another site."

Under Bi-Fab, which re-opened the yard in 2009, Arnish yard has enjoyed its longest run of consistent employment after two previous operators went bust.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is backing an on-site upgrade with the £3 million installation of steel rolling and welding equipment at Arnish.

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