Workers facing redundancy as BiFab plunges into administration

FIFE manufacturing firm BiFab plunged into administration in the wake of the Scottish Government pulling the plug on financial support.

Time finally ran out for the troubled company, which serves the oil, gas and renewables sectors, with furious trade unions accusing the government of “political hypocrisy and failure” over its pledge to deliver a renewables revolution.

Workers are now facing the prospect of redundancy at BiFab’s Burntisland, Methil and Arnish sites – despite a £52 million bailout from the government after the company hit a financial crisis three years ago.

Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop told MSPs ministers had ruled out nationalising the struggling firm and they “can no longer lawfully support the company financially”.

BiFab bosses issued a statement confirming employees’ worst fears, saying: “BiFab can confirm that the board has agreed to place the company in administration following the Scottish Government’s decision to remove contract assurances.”

The company’s announcement was followed by a joint statement from trade union secretaries from GMB Scotland and Unite Scotland, Gary Smith and Pat Rafferty, who said: “BiFab’s administration exposes the myth of Scotland’s renewables revolution as well as a decade of political hypocrisy and failure, in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

“The workers and communities dependent on these yards have fought so hard for a future and everyone was hoping that 2021 would finally be the turning point.

“Shamefully, the Scottish Government has buried these hopes just in time for Christmas and they have worked together with the UK Government in doing so.

“A decade on from the promise of a ‘Saudi Arabia of renewables’ and 28,000 full-time jobs in offshore wind manufacturing, we’ve been left with industrial ruins in Fife and Lewis.”

BiFab’s future has been in doubt since the government last month withdrew financial guarantees supporting the manufacturing of eight offshore wind turbine jackets for the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) project.

The NnG work would have brought more than 200 workers back to the company’s yards in Methil and Burntisland.

The Scottish Government had remained a minority shareholder after the company’s purchase by Canadian firm JV Driver through its subsidiary DF Barnes in 2018.