Hull and the Offshore Industry

One month ago Siemens announced their plans to build an offshore turbine factory in the English city of Hull. Many industrial representatives like RenewableUK called this a “game changer” for the British offshore wind industry, because it raised the hopes for more companies to follow.

Now it looks like another global player will be following the example of Siemens thus backing up the UK as an offshore stronghold. The Hull Daily Mail reported that the newly-founded joint venture of Vestas and Mitsubishi, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, will also settle in Hull to build a turbine manufacturing plant.

The company which has started its business on April 1^st this year doesn't want to comment on the report so far. It is widely known though that they are searching for a company base in Europe with the offshore industry going strong. Most of the offshore wind farms are located in the North Sea which makes a base in England quite fitting.

The choice for Hull is not surprising either, because the city is located in the northeast of the country directly on the North Sea shore where most of the English and Scottish offshore wind farms are erected. Furthermore the market in England is predicted to be the strongest one besides Germany in the years to come. Already today England is world leader in the offshore industry and owns the largest wind farms.

The only thing missing in the last years was a factory located directly in the UK. Up to this day the turbines had to be build on the continent and were shipped to the island which is costly and time-consuming. The industry has long been waiting for a big company to settle in the UK for turbine construction.

But politics didn't back up the business until the British government changed their minds some weeks ago. Now the administration is willing to give long-time guaranties for stable fees supporting the industry and making the move of Siemens no surprise.

The company based in Munich, Germany, announced to build two factories in Hull creating 1000 jobs at an instant at the beginning of April. More supplier chain firms will follow this example creating even more jobs in the near future.

If MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will really be building their own manufacturing plant in Hull, the city will become an important player in the OWI. Hull has an old port and was an industrial city in the last centuries, but it was hit hard by the decline of the fishing industry in the last decades. So it's no surprise local politicians are happy about the recent developments, especially because the whole region is economically underdeveloped.

It is highly unlikely for Vestas/Mitsubishi to use the same supplier chain as Siemens, if the company will actually move to Hull. As direct competitors both manufacturers will have to establish their own business environment there which will again attract more companies making the future of Hull looking bright.

On the other hand recent developments push back UK's biggest offshore competitor Germany. Politics in Germany have been very unstable lately leading to companies leaving the country in search for better conditions elsewhere. The situation might even grow worse now that the Berlin government announced to cut the offshore goals into half. Not exactly a way to attract investors.