Bombardier warns of £30m cost of stockpiling

Stockpiling parts to mitigate the impact of a no-deal Brexit would cost Bombardier’s Belfast business up to £30 million, the plane maker has warned.

Michael Ryan, the head of the firm’s Northern Ireland operation, warned spending such a sum to store goods is “not how we can afford to run a business” and is “cash that I don’t have”.

There are fears the movement of goods could be disrupted by long queues at ports if the UK is unable to reach an agreement with the EU over Brexit.

Mr Ryan said his Belfast plant operates a “just in time” supply policy to avoid the expense of stocking excess materials.

The company uses hundreds of components which are modified throughout its supply chain, crossing between the UK and the rest of the EU on multiple occasions.

There were 1,755 such shipments in 2016.

Asked about the implications of a no-deal Brexit, Mr Ryan told the Press Association: “Our customers are expecting of us... the only solution to not having some sort of a deal will be to stockpile parts.

“That will cost us about £2530 million to hold a number of months’ worth of material to avoid stopping our lines.

“That’s money that should be being put into new product development, R and D (research and development), to allow us to keep doing business in the future, instead of managing a consequence or an uncertainty or frankly a lack of agreement.”