The Netherlands-based Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) plans to lay off 450 of the existing 770 employees at the company’s head office in Zwijndrecht, as well as at its yards in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Poland, partly due to ”the combination of price pressure and unfavourable contractual conditions in the wind energy market”.
Other reasons for the lay-offs are ”poor market conditions in the oil and gas industry, increasing competition, and the somber prospects for the near future” , HFG said.
The company’s management has already informed the employees of the situation and requested advice from the works council of HFG Netherlands. HFG has also entered into discussions with the trade unions about a severance scheme.
“We fully realize just how devastating the planned reorganization will be for many of our colleagues who have made such an important contribution to our company,” said HFG CEO Koos-Jan van Brouwershaven.
“We will do our utmost to support them throughout this difficult period. At the same time we are convinced that these steps are absolutely essential for the stability of HFG and to guarantee its continuity.”
HFG will continue operations at all its locations in Vlissingen, Zwijndrecht, Hartlepool, UK, and Opole, Poland, where the company designs and fabricates steel constructions for offshore oil and gas market and the wind energy market.
“The expectation is that, due to growing energy requirements in the long term, the number of projects in the market will increase again in the future. Until that time we will do everything in our power to maintain as much employment as possible,” said van Brouwershaven.
HFG won its last contract for an offshore wind project in March 2016 when Petrofac awarded the company with a contract to fabricate a substation platform for the Galloper offshore wind farm.