MASSIVE UK FLOATING WINDFARM CONTRACT GOING TO MIDDLE EAST COMPANY ‘SICKENING’ SAYS GMB

ational scandal as UK workers and communities forced to watch as multi-million pound contracts sent overseas to companies based in authoritarian regimes, says GMB Union

A massive contract for a floating wind farm off the coast of Scotland being handed to a Middle Eastern contractor is ‘sickening’ says GMB Union.

Dubai-based Lamprell has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with developer NOV to provide fabrication, assembly and outfitting for Cerulean Winds’ three 1GW floating wind farms off the West of Shetland and in the Central North Sea.

GMB Union, which has tens of thousands of members in the energy industry, has warned this deal could lead to yet more offshoring of UK renewables jobs.

Previously, Lamprell secured hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts for renewables projects in Scotland, including Moray East, Seagreen 1 and Moray West project.

These contracts have been and are being manufactured at Lamprell’s Hamriyah and Sharjah yards in the UAE, before being shipped to their final destinations in British waters on diesel burning barges.

Gary Cook, GMB Organiser, said:

“I’m disgusted by it. It sickens me to the core.

“These so-called ‘just transition’ jobs – where are they?

“We are losing high-value jobs in key industries that will power the future of our country.

“Taxpayers are subsidising these projects with green levies, and we can’t get any work in the UK.

“Offshore wind has a huge role to play in meeting our energy needs, but instead of securing the vital skills and tens of thousands of jobs that come with it for UK workers, Ministers at Westminster and Holyrood have been asleep at the wheel.

“It’s a national scandal that UK workers and communities are being forced to watch as multi-million pound contracts for these industries of the future are sent overseas to companies based in authoritarian regimes, including those linked to the disgraced DP World.

“If we are to secure our energy future and keep our nation safe, we need to bring these vital jobs and skills home.”