'Beggars belief': Teesside carbon capture project confirms Chinese steel contract
Unite has urged the Government to introduce clear rules to ensure that UK-produced steel is used in all major infrastructure projects, after it emerged the Teesside carbon capture scheme will use a Chinese steel supplier.
Net Zero Teesside has handed a 7,000-tonne contract to Modern Heavy Industries, a structural steel fabricator based near Shanghai.
The carbon capture, utilisation and storage project, which aims to remove harmful gases and store them in huge tanks in the North Sea, is supported by Government funds, however it is run by private firms BP and Equinor.
NZT confirmed the contract with the Chinese firm, however said that more than half of its infrastructure will use “UK content”.
Unite, the UK’s leading union, said the project should have accepted a bid from British Steel, in nearby Scunthorpe.
It said that “to add insult to injury the power station is being built on the site of the former Redcar steel works”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Steel production is crucial to the success of the UK economy and cast-iron rules must be implemented to ensure all UK infrastructure projects buy our steel, when available.
“This can be done within international law if we designate steel as an area of critical national infrastructure, just as they have done in the US.”
UK Steel director-general Gareth Stace said: “BP’s decision to buy 7,000t of Chinese steel, worth around £5M for the Net Zero Teesside project, rather than sourcing it from British Steel just miles away, beggars belief.
“For a major, taxpayer-supported project, this is deeply disappointing and should never have been allowed to happen.
“The government has been clear about its ambition to back British industry, strengthen domestic supply chains and treat steel as a strategic national asset.”
It is understood that Industry Minister Chris McDonald, himself a Teesside MP, has met with NZT to discuss the contract.
The Government has been pushing for major infrastructure projects to support the country’s ailing steel industry, which is being hit by tariffs from the US and the European Union.
British Steel, in Scunthorpe, is the only plant in the UK left that can make virgin steel, and last year the Department for Business and Trade was forced to take control of the site to stop its Chinese owners Jingye running down the blast furnaces.
Projects around Heathrow’s third runway will use British steel and save thousands of jobs, the Government previously announced.
A spokesperson for NZT Power said: “British structural steel engineering group William Hare, alongside Modern Heavy Industries, has been awarded a contract to provide steel structures for NZT Power, following a competitive procurement process.
“NZT Power’s major contractors remain on track to deliver more than 50 per cent UK content, with around £1bn of UK-based subcontracts already awarded.”
A Government spokesperson added: “We expect Net Zero Teesside Power to use British materials as much as possible.
“The Minister for Industry recently met with the project, as we continue to champion British steelmaking and our steel communities now and for generations to come.
“This government sees a bright and sustainable future for steelmaking in the UK, and we’ll set out our long-term vision for the sector in our Steel Strategy which will be published this year.”