Chemical company Ineos Phenol In Antwerp harbor, production leaves for five years, trade union fears definitive closure (Zwijndrecht)
Last week Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of the British Chememultinational Ineos, visited the construction of his new factory Project in Lillo in the port of Antwerp. There was no question of a whore mood. « Within ten years, half of the chemical factories in Europe will close, » he said.
The gloomy prediction is due to the high production costs in the Antwerp and European chemical sector, compared to competitors from the United States and Asia. In the United States, for example, the gas price is four times cheaper than in Europe, so that many multinationals close or reduce their chemical factories in Europe.
A week after Ratcliffe’s visit in Antwerp, he seems to be realizing his words immediately. At the end of 2027 Ineos will close its phenolfabriek in Gladbeck in Germany. Fenol is a basic product that is widely used in the construction and automotive sector. The production of that factory moves to Ineos Phenol in Kallo (Doel) in the port of Antwerp by 2027.
That may sound like good news for Ineos Phenol, but it is not really. Because today, the Ineos Phenol factory has been standing still for two years and eight months, because the production of Kallo has moved to the Ineos factory in Gladbeck since October 2022. Last year Ineos announced that it would restart the site in Kallo in the second half of 2025. But now it comes back to that, and the site in Kallo stays closed until the end of 2027, the moment the factory closes in Gladbeck. Ineos Phenol in Kallo will be closed for about five years.
This whole story raises some questions.
1. Why does Ineos close the factory in Gladbeck and the factory in Kallo will open again at the end of 2027?
“We close the factory in Gladbeck (where almost 300 people work, ed.) Because the energy costs for production in Europe are too high and because we have to pay very high taxes on CO2 emissions in Europe, « says Nathalie Meert, spokesperson for Ineos. » In addition, there is less demand for Fenol in Europe. We will therefore close our factory in Gladbeck at the end of 2027. We will only do it in 2.5 years, because we still want to respect our current contracts. ”
Nathalie Meert. – © RR
« We choose to reopen the Kallo location, because that factory is younger than that in Gladbeck and therefore also more modern, » says Nathalie Meert. « Moreover, Ineos Phenol has the advantage that it is in the port, while Gladbeck is in a more residential area. »
We close the factory in Gladbeck because the energy costs for production in Europe are too high and because we have to pay very high taxes on CO2 emissions in Europe
Nathalie Meert
Spokesperson Ineos
In brackets: The reason why Ineos produces today in Gladbeck and not in Kallo is because the factory in Kallo had to be maintained anyway at the stilling in October 2022. At that time Ineos could not suspect that the factory would stop five years.
2. If Ineos Phenol has been closed for two years and eight months today, what do the workers of that factory do?
Logistical tasks. It is like this: Until the closure, Ineos Phenol in Kallo produced the product Fenol for customers in the port of Antwerp, such as Covestro. The Fenol was then brought to Covestro via pipelines. Since Ineos has moved the Kallo factory to Gladbeck, there are ten to twenty trucks from Glado to Kallo with Fenol on board every day. The employees of Ineos Phenol unload that product of the trucks and pump it via metal intestines to a tank.
In the meantime, 144 people still work for Ineos Phenol in Kallo. In October 2022, when the production of the factory was stopped, there were still 180.
3. Will Ineos Phenol really be restarted in 2027?
« We are skeptical about a possible restart, » says Levi Sollie, secretary of the socialist trade union ABVV. « Since the stilling, 36 people have left the factory in Kallo, due to retirement or because they went to another company. If more than two years of extra standstill is coming, even more people will leave the factory and it will be very difficult to start production again. I fear that it will open little realistic in 2027. »
We are skeptical about a possible restart. If there is more than two years of extra standstill now, even more people will leave the factory and it will be very difficult to restart production
Levi Sollie
Secretary Socialist Trade Union ABVV
Levi Sollie – © RR
Ineos does believe in it. « Because we are the market leader, our factory in Kallo is equipped with the latest technologies and we believe that supply and demand in Europe will be in balance by 2027, » says Nathalie Meert.
For example, Fenol producer PKN Orlen in Poland has already announced that it wants to close at the end of this year. More closures are expected within the sector.
Ineos started repairs and maintenance work at the factory in Kallo at the end of 2024, so that the installations do not get outdated.
