The Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona has finally awarded the Nissan land to the Goodman group and the D-hub, which will be responsible for reindustrializing the Nissan plant after its closure. The Australian logistics operator formally submitted the bid and acts as a logistics partner for the mobility hub, formed by a dozen companies led by QEV and Btech, which have set out to promote the Zeroid brand of electric industrial vehicles and revive the Ebro brand.
Goodman owns and manages several logistics spaces across Europe, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific region. The contracting board confirmed that the company's proposal meets the requirements demanded by the tender.
In a joint statement, the Consorci de la Zona Franca, the Generalitat, and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, welcomed the return of industrial activity to these lands after Nissan ceased operations at the end of 2021 and that the awarding process to Goodman and the D-hub company has culminated after "a long process that has respected the principles of legality and transparency" by the reindustrialization board.
Nissan's farewell was officially announced in May 2020, just after the population lockdown to combat the pandemic. After months of strikes, workers reached an agreement with the multinational to negotiate layoffs.
Subsequently, a table was formed by the Generalitat, the Government, the unions, and Nissan itself to pilot the reindustrialization process of the factories in Barcelona, Montcada i Reixac, and Sant Andreu. The objective was to find a substitute from the sector itself to avoid loss of industrial fabric, reports ACN.
The Chinese automotive giant Great Wall Motors positioned itself as a candidate and was rumored as Nissan's replacement for months, but ended up withdrawing from the process just before the Barcelona plant manufactured its last vehicle in December 2021. Nissan produced the last car in Barcelona and ended more than 40 years of local production even without a defined industrial plan.
The failure of negotiations with the Chinese company, which was the preferred project, represented a setback in the negotiations. From that moment on, the D-Hub consortium, made up of a group of companies led by QEV and Btech, which want to promote the Zeroid brand of electric industrial vehicles and revive the Ebro brand, became the preferred candidate. Another strong candidate was the electric motorcycle manufacturer Silence, which is already working in the facilities, occupying an area of 61,078 square meters and hired a part of the workers from the former Nissan.
In parallel, the Japanese company also received authorization for the brand's Technical Center to continue its activity within the premises, in this case occupying 38,438 square meters and employing 287 workers.
In summer, the commission opened the bidding process for the land to a logistics operator, although the procedure has accumulated delay after delay. The deadline for submitting candidacies ended in October with only one valid candidate, but it was not until this Wednesday that the result was known.
The tender foresees a fifty-year lease with the possibility of extending it for another 20 years and that the successful bidder invests at least 100 million euros.
The reindustrialization table to be held on February 28 must also serve to ratify the agreements for the transfer of Nissan's assets to the hub, which could not be signed until the tender was resolved.
The process to find a logistics manager who would be directly responsible for the land to the Consorci de la Zona Franca (CZFB), which owns it, coincided in time with the allocation of European funds from the Perte for electric cars. The decarbonization hub could not present all the guarantees demanded by the ministry and will end up receiving fewer resources, about 62.5 million.
Workers have had to wait two years, during which unemployment benefits have been exhausted, to find out who will replace the Japanese company, which had a relationship with Catalonia since 1979.
About 1,300 Nissan workers remain to be relocated, discounting retirements and people who have decided to leave the company with severance pay of 60 days per year worked. In total, the closure caused 2,500 workers to lose their jobs.
Regarding hiring, the unions and the hub are working to be able to hire more employees than initially planned. One option would be to make shorter contracts, of 32 hours. The idea they are working with is that by January 2024 all employees will be hired. It is also being considered with the Generalitat to use European funds to promote worker training.