The Port Authority has long identified that more enterprises are struggling
LyondellBasell/Covestro and Tronox declare in quick succession that they’re making plans to shut their chemical plants in Rotterdam. This is first and main bad news for the employees who are at risk of losing their jobs as a end result. But the closures also are a loss for the port of Rotterdam and the cluster of chemical enterprises in the port area.
The LyondellBasell factory (PO11) at the Maasvlakte that is closing is one of the most recent and biggest chemical factories in the port in terms of added value. The enterprise manufacture base materials right here that are utilized in insulation materials, mattresses, medicines, paint, electronics, furniture, food packaging and wind turbines, for example.
Tronox is also a global chemical enterprise. It has been generating pigments in the Botlek area for the paint, plastic and paper industries for decades. The enterprise is a part of the intently cooperating chlorine cluster, and production had already been halted lately.
Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO Boudewijn Siemons: “It’s a tough day for the port with the declared closure of those main chemical enterprises and the lack of masses of jobs. Industry in Rotterdam forms the basis for many products that we use every day. That is of great value to our financial system and society, mainly now that Europe wants to be more self-sufficient. We should therefore now pull out all of the stops in the Netherlands and in Europe so that sustainability and preservation of industry can go hand in hand. It is exactly through in depth cooperation that corporations that enterprise in the port of Rotterdam can produce correctly; we cannot affords to lose any more crucial players.”
Chemical marketplace under stress in Europe
LyondellBasell had already introduced a strategic review of its activities in Europe. Tronox currently performed a similar evaluation, too. Both enterprises state that the closure of the factories is a end result of the market conditions for chemicals in Europe. LyondellBasell speaks of “continuous pressure on profitability because of global overcapacity, a strong boom in imports from Asia and the high values of European production”. The Port Authority has long identified that more enterprises are suffering with this and, collectively with the enterprise and governments included, has regularly expressed its worries about the funding climate for the chemical industry in the Netherlands and Europe.
Earlier signals and closures
The port of Rotterdam is home to the largest petrochemical cluster in Europe. The enterprises work intently together and with enterprises in the broader commercial triangle of Rotterdam, Antwerp and the Ruhr place, which accounts for 40% of petrochemical manufacturing in Europe. The Port Authority acknowledges that the head offices of enterprise in the course of the location, inclusive of the Port of Rotterdam, are weighing their presence and funding in Europe.
And that development has resulted within the closure of the LyondellBasell/Covestro and Tronox factories. Previous year, the Indorama plastics factory closed, and earlier than that, AluChemie closed its doors in Rotterdam. The Port Authority now get that developments are going on at a fast tempo and is once again surely calling at the Dutch government to do what it may for the industry in its Spring Memorandum. Enterprises in the Netherlands bear greater burdens, compared to neighbouring nations and on a worldwide scale, caused by energy taxes, grid tariffs, the CO2 tax, nitrogen regulations, grid congestion and regulatory pressure. The proposed plastic tax also belongs on this list.
