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Half of the present workforce at the Arnish manufacturing yard by Stornoway are being paid off tomorrow (Fri).

 

Some 30 Bi-Fab employees will finish at the site as order books dry up. More personnel were laid off in past months as the dwindles down.

 

Around 100 people were employed on site at the beginning of the year but numbers have gradually reduced as contracts were completed.

 

Components for a 8,200 tonne seabed foundation jacket for Premier Oil have been shipped out of Arnish to its parent yard in Methil, Fife.

 

On Friday, the finished 165 metre high lattice steel structure was towed to the Solan oil field in 135-metre deep seas, west of Shetland.

 

The last remaining contract is for gas rig seabed foundation structures or jacket for  GDF Suez’s development in the giant Cygnus gas field in the southern North Sea.

 

The last of four 40 metre-high jackets for is nearing completion so trades such as the welders and platers required at the early stages of fabrication are no longer need.

 

Arnish is stopping its nightshift and the remaining personnel will work days from now on.

 

Workers at Bi Fab’s sister yards in Methil and Burntisland are also being made redundant as the bulk of the £47 million contract passes.  

 

Neil Campbell, general manager at Arnish said: “We are finishing the last big order and will be ticking over on dayshift.”

 

The Arnish yard is owned by the Stornoway Trust and leased to Highlands and Islands Enterprise which rents the facility to Bi-Fab.


Charlotte Wright, Director of Business and Sector Development at HIE, said: “This is clearly a difficult situation for those directly affected.

 

“However, it is in the nature of the energy manufacturing industry that job numbers fluctuate between one contract finishing and a new contract coming on stream.

 

“Arnish remains a valuable asset which continues to play a significant role in the oil and gas and emerging renewables industries in Scotland.”

 

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

 

 

Pay-offs at Arnish yard as orders dry up     14/8/14