BiFab stood no chance of turbine jobs in 'race to bottom' warns MSP

BiFab doesn’t stand a chance of winning major contracts because of a “race to the bottom” to the bottom, Kirkcaldy’s MSP has warned.

The Burntisland yard has lost out to China and the UAE in a bid for the multi-billion £ Seagreen turbine jackets which are being built off the Fife coast for markets thousands of miles away.

And that was despite a pitch understood to be as competitive as any from across Europe.

In the end, it was undercut by a bid from a Chinese company.

Now, David Torrance MSP has pointed the finger of blame at Westminster, and called on it to change its system.

He hit out: “I understand from my discussions with the Scottish Government that BiFab’s bid was competitive with all other UK and European yards.

“Unfortunately, it just cannot afford to compete with the prices on offer from yards in Asia and the Middle East.

“The responsibility for this lies 100 per cent with the UK Government – its Contract for Difference Subsidy auction has caused a race to the bottom that no Scottish or UK yard can win.”

Mr Torrance added: “To protect jobs and livelihoods and to ensure a future pipeline for BiFab, it must urgently change its procedures to ensure that local content is taken into consideration as part of the bid.”

Hopes had been high of bringing the work to a yard which once employed huge numbers.

The contract was to build 114 turbines off the east coast of Fife - but BiFab emerged empty handed as the work went thousands of miles away.

The Fife company’s pitch was backed by the Scottish Government, which is a stakeholder in the business.

Operator, SSE Renewables, said the gap between BiFab’s bid and its foreign rivals was “too significant to close.”

DFBarnes, the Canadian company which bought BiFab in 2018, expressed its bitter disappointment at the decision - and hit out at SSE for not backing local industry.

In a statement, DF Barnes said: “Since acquiring BiFab, we have been trying exceptionally hard to get people back to work in our yards.

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"Instead, Scottish and Southern Energy, in the face of what could be one of the worst recessions in modern history, has chosen to give all the fabrication work for one of the largest offshore windfarm projects in the world to companies in China and the UAE.”

SSE also came under fire from trades unions, with Hazel Nolan, an official with GMB, saying: “We warn industry majors like SSE and the governments at Holyrood and Westminster that constant disappointment is now turning to growing anger – our communities dependent on offshore wind fabrication contracts are being totally failed, and so is the country”.

A spokesman for SSE Renewables said: “We wanted nothing more than to award work to a Scottish firm that would help set them up for future success.

"Unfortunately, on this occasion, the gap between BiFab’s offering and that of competing fabricators was too significant to close”.

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