Last-ditch bid to keep project in the North East
THE company behind the Sea- Dragon project could make a decision as early as next week on a last-ditch bid to keep the work in the North East.
Representatives of Cayman Island-based SeaDragon Offshore are travelling to the region to thrash out details of a proposal tabled by Tyne Tees Rigs (TTR) - an alliance between Darlington-based Cleveland Bridge and McNulty Offshore Construction.
The partnership was formed to stop the work going to Singapore after SeaDragon terminated its contract with Tees Alliance Group (TAG), the cluster of companies brought together to win the bid for Teesside, which was confirmed last year.
SeaDragon would not say which of the bids - Teesside or Singapore - was favourite to win the race.
Retaining all or part of the work in the North-east would safeguard hundreds of jobs and generate millions of pounds for the local supply chain.
A SeaDragon spokesperson said: “We are keen to make a decision on this as soon as possible. It could be as early as next week.
“The (TTR) proposal has different elements - financial, project management and construction - and everything has to fit together.”
Brian Rogan, managing director of Cleveland Bridge, which is due to meet with SeaDragon representatives tomorrow, said: “We are working with SeaDragon and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to convince them to keep the work in the UK. But the decision is entirely up to them.”
Stockton North MP Frank Cook has argued for the Government to put pressure on SeaDragon’s backers, the Lloyds banking group, to keep the contract on Teesside.
Fellow MP, Darlington’s Alan Milburn, also met with SeaDragon representatives earlier this week.
Understood to be the country’s biggest non-military fabrication project, SeaDragon was expected to create a total of around 1,200 jobs and herald a new dawn at the Haverton Hill shipyard, which had reopened in readiness for the new business in March last year - 29 years after it had closed down.
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