The move sees the Middlesbrough-headquartered Integrated Industrial services company provide mechanical and engineering services in support of its client’s assets from the workshops at Wilton in the Tees Valley, Humberside and Grangemouth.

In a positive development, Aker Kvaerner employees at these sites have been transferred to Hertel and the deal marks the first time the company has brought its mechanical services to the East of the UK. As a result, Hertel is now able to offer integrated multi-disciplined services across the whole country.

All the 160 people transferring will be employed directly by Hertel, more than half of them based in the Tees Valley, with approximately 40 on Humberside and the remainder in Scotland and across various contracts.

Through this acquisition, Hertel is strengthening its presence in the Tees Valley – where the Dutch-owned business founded its UK operations in 1975 - and is looking to invest up to £4 million in new facilities and recruitment in the area. It hopes to build on its excellent delivery record and customer relationships through the skills and experience the transferring people bring with them.

Hertel currently operates in a wide range of sectors, including nuclear, marine, social housing, environmental and information technology.

Steve Tonks, managing director of Hertel (UK) said: “This is a massive deal for Hertel and great news for the Tees Valley. We are safeguarding the jobs of 160 highly skilled personnel in the Tees Valley and Humberside and taking advantage of Hertel’s national and international knowledge and expertise in the Petro-chemical industry. This region thrives on the work of companies based in the Tees Valley Process Industry cluster, and the acquisition this vital work is a mark of our commitment to expand our presence in the area, and bring significant benefits to our customers through the value our unique capabilities can now deliver.

“Hertel as a group has done similar work elsewhere, but this is a new venture in the East of the country and we are very excited about becoming a truly ‘Total’ provider of services for our existing and expanding client base.”

Martin Moon, director, Aker Kvaerner Engineering Services business, said: “This is a very positive move for everybody involved in the workshops and related support contracts, not only for the employment of our loyal workforce, but also because they will be able to continue with the important work we have been doing in this area. Hertel has made a significant investment in and commitment to the Tees Valley and Humberside through this deal, and this should be seen as an excellent development for all employees, customers and the area overall.”

ENDS
Editor’s notes: Hertel is a Dutch owned business and has been in existence since 1895. Established in Rotterdam providing insulation services to the marine industry, the company opened its UK operation in 1975 in the same area of Middlesbrough it still resides today.

BASF and ICI were the company’s principal customers at that time and Hertel provided asbestos removal and thermal insulation services across the Teesside plants. The petrochemical / chemical industry remains the company’s core market.

A cornerstone of the company’s philosophy has been based around looking after our employees. Since 1895, Hertel have only had five CEO’s and only two Managing Directors in the UK since 1975.

Recent years has seen some quite rapid growth across an increasing number of market sectors. Mechanical engineering and fabrication, nuclear decommissioning, water treatment, civil and building, have all increased dramatically in their importance to the company, all integrating with their traditional services of scaffolding, insulation and painting.

Sales have increased from £37m in 1997 to a forecast £140m in 2006 for the UK group, which is approximately 45% of the International Group. Correspondingly, the number of employees in the UK has increased to approximately 2,800, prior to the Aker Kvaerner acquisition.

Acquisitions have started to play a more significant part of the future of the company. In recent months this has included a North West England based engineering company, and a major engineering fabrication company in Leipzig (former East Germany). The primary principle driving these additions to the company remains consistent; improving the long term prospects and development of their employees by increasing their capabilities to provide a total value driven service to their customers which, in turn, improves the prosperity of the company.

Key customers who Hertel work with in this manner include BASF, ConocoPhillips, BP, Invista and Lucite in the Teesside area. Nationally this list of all the major process industry companies includes Shell, British Nuclear Group, BP, Chevron, Dow and many others