Time to make decom dream a new reality

Tayside and Fife desperately need a new source of high quality industrial jobs. Fabricator BiFab’s yards at Methil and Burntisland – once a hub for hundreds of steel fabrication jobs – have been all but silent since the Scottish Government dragged the company back from the financial abyss.

In Dundee, Michelin’s decision in November to end tyre production at its plant in 2020 has delivered a similar hammer blow to the local economy.

In fact, it has been a similar story for much of the past decade as Scotland’s heavy engineering sector found itself in the firing line in the face of the oil price crash.

The offshore sector has since improved but the downturn put a spotlight on the need to decommission ageing assets in the North Sea and in other global energy basins.

The task is enormous and the sector offers the potential to create tens of thousands of high quality jobs.

The launch yesterday of Forth and Tay Decommissioning, a new alliance designed to offer turnkey decom solutions, is about seizing the initiative and ensuring the facilities and skills base in this region are on the map when operators are considering where to place decommissioning contracts.

What was presented at the launch event was a cogent and credible offer to industry. Converting that promise into real contracts and real jobs is the next step.

But suddenly it is a small step we need to take rather than a giant leap.