Investor Insight: Alan Jeffery, Metsä Tissue

When freeports were established in the UK, the Humber was identified as the region with the most powerful proposition.

Since its launch, Humber Freeport has helped to attract well over £1bn of inward investment, while at the same time helping shape key areas including skills, innovation and decarbonisation.

One of those pledged investments is from Finnish forest industry company Metsä Group, whose tissue paper business, Metsä Tissue, plans to build a new paper mill within the Goole freeport tax site.

The development will increase the UK’s self-sufficiency by more than 30 per cent in the production of essential tissue products.

The planned investment, which would create more than 400 new local jobs alongside thousands of indirect jobs across the supply chain, consists of 240,000 tonnes of tissue paper production capacity, built in several phases during the upcoming decade.

Metsä Tissue and leading Yorkshire developer Wykeland Group, which owns the long-term development rights on the site, have worked closely together for more than two years to bring forward the scheme and earlier this year submitted a detailed planning application to East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Alan Jeffery, Technical Director (UK & Ireland) at Metsä Tissue, discusses the company’s decision to invest in the Humber.

• Why is freeport status important for the Humber?

Freeport status puts the Humber on the map as a significant inward investment opportunity for businesses looking to grow their presence in the UK.

When freeports were allocated, regions were chosen which were seen as being fundamental to the growth of UK plc, and to helping the Government achieve its growth ambitions.

The Humber, with its long and proud history of trade, and more recently its leading role in the decarbonisation of industry, is right at the heart of that.

• What role does it play in supporting investment within the region?

There are clear and obvious benefits for businesses investing in freeport sites, which have been well publicised and documented.

But far beyond that, freeport status is a vote of confidence in the Humber as a place to do business, and helps to create a welcoming environment for investors.

At Metsä, we have been fortunate to see that first hand. The local economic development teams, the experience and expertise of our development partner, Wykeland, and the support of the wider business community, were one of the biggest reasons we chose the site in Goole for our plans to develop a tissue paper mill in the UK.

Another important factor is the support Humber Freeport provides in the regional development of skills and employment opportunities. Both of those things are fundamental to any investment and, as a future significant employer in the Humber, were an important consideration for Metsä Tissue.

• How has freeport status benefitted your business?

Finding a site of the correct size and with suitable nearby infrastructure for a major manufacturing development such as ours is not that easy in the UK.

The Goole location suited our needs very well and the Humber has the manufacturing heritage that we were looking to tap into.

Being within a freeport site provided us with a streamlined, simpler planning process, and also provided a level of support for infrastructure that is essential for our project to be successful.

• What benefits do major investments bring in terms of skills and innovation?

Our proposed new facility in Goole will bring cutting-edge green technology and jobs to the Humber. We think we will not only complement, but enhance, the opportunities for people living and working in the area.

A development of this size will also create broad and deep supply chain opportunities, which in itself will nurture fresh innovation and skills development.

At Metsä Tissue, we employ professionals in a very wide range of roles – from papermaking and maintenance to logistics, finance, HR, marketing, communications and IT.

• Humber Freeport has aligned itself closely to the decarbonisation of industry – what is the scale of the opportunity for the region as a leader in green energy and renewable technologies?

The sky is the limit for the region and it has already made an impressive start in developing significant renewable energy resources.

Metsä was looking for an area with a diverse range of renewable energy options to help achieve our target of fossil-free production by 2030, and the Humber is very strong in this sector.

Importantly, if you look at where major investment is being made, by far the largest area is green technology. That could be existing businesses investing to transition the way they operate, or new emerging technologies like carbon capture, hydrogen and battery storage.

The Humber is perfectly positioned to drive the transition to net zero and, with that, will come significant benefits for the region.

• To what extent do you feel Freeport status has acted as a catalyst in bringing forward or reinforcing other initiatives within the Humber?

There is no doubt that the Humber Freeport is helping to bring recognition for the vast amount of good work happening in the region, as well as encouraging further development and investment.

What impresses most is the way that the region works well together as a whole entity. There is a real energy about the place and so many people are working together to make the region a success.