'Extremely dark day for North East engineering'

Mar 25 2009 By Christopher Knox, The Journal

THE region's engineering sector has been dealt another blow after last-ditch attempts to secure more than 1,000 North East jobs failed with the announcement a huge oil rig project will now be undertaken in Singapore, not Teesside.

Engineering firm SeaDragon Offshore confirmed fabrication work on its oil platform will now be completed in the Far East despite valiant efforts by a hastily-formed North East consortium to keep the work at the Haverton Hill shipyard in Billingham.

The cancellation of its contract with the Tees Alliance Group (TAG) will cost about 800 jobs with hundreds more in the supply chain. Tees Valley Regeneration inward investment director Neil Kenley said: "I just can’t understand it. The companies behind this bid bleed heavy industry and it’s particularly disappointing given the current economic climate. It just seems as though they have not been given a fair crack of the whip."

This time last year the former Billingham shipyard was re-opened after 30 years to begin fabrication on the first of two SeaDragon oil rigs in a contract worth £300m.