DR JONATHAN Owens, Expert in logistics and supply chains comments as British Steel falls into insolvency. Dr Owens worked at British Steel’s Shotton plant for nine years before becoming an academic.
Dr Owens said: “The steel industry in the UK has been in decline for years, it’s been struggling for a while and this closure could cause problems for the UK. British Steel is the only producer of rails to Network Rail as well as other specialist construction products. The loss of the company will mean industry and the Government will have to look abroad for these specialist steel products. That could increase costs in many sectors.
“In the tier one supply chain, around 20,000 could be affected. This includes things like logistics companies, HGVS, rail and ports will all massively affected. The raw materials are imported from Europe so everyone in that supply chain will be losing out massively.
“But there is something else that has not been taken in to account so far and that is the lower tier suppliers. For example the café that feeds the night shift and then the supplies who supply that café. And the you have retailers in the area. All those will be affected. It was the potential to decimate the region.”
“I just don’t see nationalisation being a viable option for this company, especially with the Government we have at the moment. But with all the uncertainty around Brexit it will be very hard to find a buyer.”