‘Troubles are behind us’, says boss of £200m biofuels plant

The £200m biofuels facility at Saltend was due to open in summer but has now been put back to next year after contractors staged months of protests when they were laid off.

The dispute was only settled when the majority of the workers accepted payments of about £4,000 from Vivergo Fuels, the plant’s owners, which had terminated a contract with Redhall Engineering after saying the mechanical and piping work was significantly behind schedule.

But now more than 90 per cent of the construction work has been completed and the company says it should begin operating early next year.

Dave Richards, managing director at Vivergo Fuels, said: “We’re pleased to have put the troubles experienced earlier this year behind us and are now wholly focused on starting our business early next year.

“Clearly, delivering a plant of this size and scale – which will be one of the largest ethanol production facilities in Europe – will always present challenges but we remain absolutely committed to opening a world-scale business here, bringing jobs and wider economic benefits to this area.”

He added: “Vivergo Fuels represents one of the first major investments in the region’s developing renewables agenda to be realised, and we sincerely hope that many more follow.

“This area is perfectly positioned to capture more investment in this exciting and growing sector.”

Mr Richards said the company had put more than £50m into the local economy through supplier and business contracts, and that more than 1,000 jobs would be sustained by the plant.

He said: “We will directly employ around 70 highly skilled people – the majority of which have already been recruited and are from the local area – and we estimate that a further 1,000-plus jobs will be dependent on our business.

“Through the excellent support received from the local authorities and JobCentre Plus we have recruited a great team and we are still looking to fill a number of key roles. Training is well underway and our plant operators have access to state-of-the-art simulation facilities to give them a ‘hands on’ experience prior to operations.”

The plant, being built at BP’s site, will be the biggest ethanol producer in the UK, producing about 420 million litres per year.

The company says this will account for about a third of the UK’s requirements under the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation for 2012/13.

Vivergo will also be the UK’s biggest single source supplier of animal feed, producing more than 500,000 tonnes a year – enough to feed more than 340,000 dairy cows per day.

More than 600 construction workers are currently deployed on the site.

The dispute at the site started in March when 400 workers were laid off after Redhall Engineering’s contract for mechanical and piping work was terminated. It led to weeks of unofficial action by the GMB and Unite trade unions and repeated blockades caused frustration for thousands of commuters.

The dispute cost £130,000 to police, with officers from Humberside Police clocking up almost £110,000 in overtime payments.

Another £11,000 was spent on “subsistence”, a Freedom of Information request revealed, while assistance from South Yorkshire Police cost another £7,500.

While Vivergo’s biofuels project looks set to become a major success, the Humber region remains anxious about the prospect of securing an £80m plant in Hull to make offshore wind turbines.

German engineering giant Siemens named Hull as its preferred location, but a memorandum of understanding it signed with Hull Council and Associated British Ports expired in July.