Freeport free-for-all?
So, the UK’s freeports are bastions of deregulation and deunionisation? Well, that’s what most of us thought. Recent events on Teesside have turned this idea on its head.
Hold the front page
Workers at Teesside Freeport’s flagship project, SeAH Wind, have voted to go on strike. That statement would have been unthinkable when Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen launched the freeport in a wave of irrational exuberance back in March 2021.
That would be a terrible idea
Anybody with any knowledge of economics or history warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to bother with freeports. This was for several reasons; that they simply displace economic activity from one part of the country to another. That previous PM David Cameron had let existing freeports wither on the vine in 2012 because they served no useful purpose. That they would become havens of illegality.
Booming Brexit Britain Bonanza
Johnson, Sunak and Houchen had a more cynical reason for promoting freeports. They would be a symbol of Brexit Britain’s escape from the clutches of Brussels eurocrats. Well, 2bn customs forms later, how’s that going?
Net Zero 2050
Later in 2021, Boris Johnson launched the Net Zero Strategy, more commonly known as Net Zero 2050. Johnson’s Conservative Party has now ditched Net Zero 2050 under pressure from Nigel Farage.
So what’s Houchen’s position on Net Zero 2050?
Ben Houchen has kept very quiet as his party descends further into insanity. Until recently he was the UK’s loudest booster of Net Zero 2050, and its purported benefits to Teesside. But, he can’t be too critical of Kemi Badenoch’s U-turn, because that won’t look good if he runs against her for the party leadership. Let’s remember those far-off days, when the Tees Valley Mayor couldn’t get enough of Net Zero 2050.
A new dawn for Teesside
On 14 February 2022, Ben Houchen announced Teesworks’ coup in bringing SeAH Wind Ltd to Teesside. SeAH would build a factory to make XXL monopiles. That sounds like a medical condition, but monopiles are actually metal cylinders that are bolted to the seabed to support offshore wind turbines. The “mammoth” factory “would place Teesside as the UK lead for clean, green manufacturing … at the heart of the first UK Freeport, developing the world’s first decarbonised industrial cluster”.
Here we go again
The three and a half years since then have brought the usual ceaseless hype that we’ve come to expect from a Teesworks project. The press launch on 7 July 2022 which, unhappily for Ben Houchen, coincided with Boris Johnson’s resignation announcement. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng made a speech to an empty room. Kwarteng’s previous claim to fame had been in July 2021 when he “sealed the deal” to build the SeAH factory on Humberside. The Business Secretary inexplicably changed his mind a few months later, and moved it to Teesside. An ideal candidate for promotion.
The Big One
In September 2022, SeAH hooked a big fish, a contract with Ørsted to supply monopiles for the Hornsea Three wind farm. Production was due to start in the second quarter of 2025.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before
Then a September 2023 announcement from Teesworks that British steel would be used to build the SeAH factory. But not, importantly, the monopiles themselves. The steel for these will be imported. But from where? More on this later. A year later, in November 2024, British Steel would demonstrate its green credentials by recycling Teesworks’ September 2023 press release almost verbatim. Curiously, given the factory’s prominence in the renewables sector, SeAH hasn’t chosen to install any solar panels on the building.
Too big to fail
In October 2024, a consortium of banks, along with UK Export Finance, and their South Korean counterparts, increased their backing of the SeAH factory to £590mn. This level of finance represents unprecedented insurance against failure. SeAH has friends in high places.
SeAH means business
A few weeks after cementing the SeAH finance deal, on 31 October 2024, Teesworks announced the first delivery of imported steel plate for the factory. 2,578 tonnes, in fact. That may sound impressive, but it’s only enough steel to make one monopile.
It’s all gone quiet
Then things went quiet for a while. On 30 July 2025, the company announced that it had started production of the first monopile. So, what was the point of importing the steel for this monopile nine months earlier? SeAH has obviously never heard of just-in-time production. Or was the October 2024 announcement merely a publicity stunt to create the illusion of activity?
SeAH isn’t the only game in town
Ørsted hedged their bets on the Hornsea Three contract by arranging for Haizea to make some of the monopiles. These will be manufactured at a new factory in Bilbao, in northern Spain. The contract was signed on 28 September 2022, the same day as SeAH’s contract. This event went unnoticed in the Teesside press.
First out of the blocks
Despite agreeing contracts on the first day, Haizea completed its factory earlier than SeAH. In fact, the SeAH factory is still only 94% complete, according to the company’s own website. There are approximately 1,000 construction workers still on site. Haizea also won the race to complete the first monopile, on 4 August 2025.
Well, knock me down with a feather
Exactly two weeks before SeAH’s announcement about starting production, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) accepted an application from the GMB Union that it should be recognised for collective bargaining by SeAH Wind. The union had applied to the CAC on 23 May 2025.
The myth exploded
Freeport watchers were taken aback at this news. Surely, we’d assumed, one of the key benefits of owning a freeport would be to deunionise the workforce? Unions such as UNITE weren’t going to take this lying down. And now, the GMB had taken on the flagship project of the UK’s flagship freeport, and recruited 101 union members out of a proposed bargaining unit of 134 SeAH workers. The union estimates that there are now 200 SeAH employees at the factory. SeAH’s own website counts 240, but they may be using a different metric.
Union recognition
On 19 September, SeAH entered into a voluntary recognition agreement with the GMB. The union had wasted no time since the CAC recognition decision in July, and had already balloted its members for industrial action. The GMB has stated that SeAH intends to introduce a Continental Shift Pattern, but without the extra pay that would usually accompany such an arrangement The union notified SeAH that industrial action would commence on 14 October. This would be in the form of an overtime ban, followed by a series of one-day strikes, commencing on 15 October.
Arbitration
The GMB agreed to suspend the overtime ban for 24 hours to allow arbitration talks to take place with SeAH at ACAS. The talks took place, but the union stated that no offer was made by SeAH. So, GMB entered into a dispute with the company. The overtime ban commenced on 15 October, and the first of a series of weekly one-day strikes was held the same day.
Picket Line
I visited the GMB picket line on the morning of 22 October, the second strike day. There was a crowd of about 100 people, almost certainly representing a majority of those on strike. The workers were in high spirits, despite the cold. Plenty of flasks of tea were available. This is a British industrial dispute, after all.
Magic roundabout
I met GMB full-time official Andy Blunt on the “magic roundabout” outside the SeAH factory gate. If you know, you know.
A politician writes…
Andy explained about the toll of shift work on individuals and their families, and the sacrifices involved. This includes working nights and weekends. Andy says that, although workers were recruited on the understanding that the job includes shift work, the allowances subsequently introduced by SeAH fall under industry standards. I mentioned a social media post from Ben Houchen, claiming that £60,000, which some of the SeAH workers can earn, is a good salary.
…with predictable consequences
Andy says that this was a misleading statement. Most of Houchen’s followers are working, or will have worked, 9 to 5 office jobs. They’d think that £60k is a good salary. But, this isn’t a salary, it’s a total wage package for working shifts as a welder. In a factory, not an office.
Thanks for your expert opinion
Houchen also criticised the GMB for taking industrial action “at such an early stage”. Andy confirmed that SeAH has been aware of the union’s position since July, and reminded me that the company and the union met at ACAS before any action was taken. All that the GMB wants is a negotiated outcome, and to get the employees back to work. Andy emphasized that he, along with all of the workers, wants SeAH to be a success.
What about the workers?
I then spoke to several of the SeAH workers, but I didn’t ask for names. They echoed Andy’s sentiment that they all want the company to succeed, and that they wanted to be back at work. I asked about that first batch of steel plate, delivered in July 2024, and why it had taken so long to start production. One of the workers told me this batch had to be cut up for scrap due to its low quality. Subsequent batches of steel have been stamped “Made in Japan”. SeAH has a factory in Japan.
Quality control
Several of the workers told me that a lot of the factory machinery wasn’t fit for purpose at first. However, problems are being overcome, and the first monopile is nearly complete. Apparently Ørsted has told SeAH not to make any more until it has inspected the first one. This confirms that Haizea is further along the learning curve than SeAH. It’s almost three months since it produced its first monopile.
Switching production?
One of the workers said that Ørsted has switched some production from SeAH in Middlesbrough to Haizai in Bilbao. He claimed that the SeAH’s original order of 48 monopiles has now been reduced to 11. This would be a significant reduction, to say the least. Ørsted has been careful never to mention how many monopiles have been ordered from each supplier. The Hornsea Three project will consist of up to 231 wind turbines, so that’s 231 monopiles. The majority of these don’t appear to be spoken for.
Against the clock
Ørsted expects to complete Hornsea Three by the end of 2027. Between them, SeAH and Haizea will need to produce about ten units per month to meet this target.
Moving on
SeAH’s next contract will be for the Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West offshore wind farms. The contract was signed with Vattenfall, but RWE has since taken over both projects. Production was originally expected to commence during 2026, but this has since slipped to 2028.
The industrial action will continue
The overtime ban and the one-day strikes will continue until negotiations restart. It’s possible that SeAH wasn’t expecting to have to deal with unions at all, so they are still getting used to the idea.
Comments welcome
Both Ørsted and SeAH were approached for comment on this story. An Ørsted spokeswoman stated that “it is not Ørsted policy to comment on contracts with suppliers due to commercial confidentiality. As you know, SeAH is contracted to supply monopiles for the Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm and we consider them an important supplier for this project.” SeAH has yet to comment.
Thanks to James Waterson for contributing to this article
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