Dow Closes Amines and Chelants Plant at Seal Sands

Dow Chemical has closed its last remaining production facility in the Teesside area of northeast England. Some 30 workers will be made redundant in the shuttering of the amines and chelants plant at Seal Sands.

Employees of the plant were told earlier this year that production was to be idled pending a strategic review, and later an employee consultation process was launched.

A spokesman for the US chemical group told local media that its chelants operations in Europe face challenging conditions, including the lack of a cost effective and reliable supply of an unspecified key raw material as well as regional overcapacity of liquid chelant products.

Dow said it is helping redundant workers to find new jobs with the help of the process industry cluster NEPIC. Stan Higgins, CEO of NEPIC, said "Dow has ensured that there's been continuous professional development, which has made it easier for staff to migrate into other companies."