© BELGIUM
Koningshooikt –
Bus builder Van Hool has not yet found a private partner to refinance the company. As a result, the company will be forced to move production from Koningshooikt (Lier). This is what the business newspaper De Tijd writes.
What impact the lack of new financing will have will normally only become clear at the special works council on Monday. A joint trade union front has announced that it will not communicate anything about the restructuring that is underway until Monday. The management of Van Hool also says that they will not communicate until Monday.
The unions say they regret that staff did not have the opportunity to hear the news first-hand on Monday. The remaining staff in Lier who were not yet economically unemployed have now stopped working.
READ ALSO: How bickering capsized bus builder Bernard Van Hool’s company
The Van Hool factory in Skopje. — © BELGA
Hundreds of jobs
If production disappears from Flanders to North Macedonia, hundreds of jobs may be lost. Two other departments of the bus manufacturer would remain in our country. In particular, Van Hool is said to be planning to no longer make city buses. It wants to concentrate entirely on coaches and trailers, but the production of those coaches would largely move from Belgium to North Macedonia. This means that somewhere between 600 and 1,000 jobs may disappear in Lier.
The Flemish government also discussed the file on Friday. Flanders has been supporting Van Hool for some time through guarantees on loans. Flanders will now engage an external agency to analyze the viability of Van Hool’s plans before deciding on new support.
Bree
Van Hool also had a subsidiary in Bree until 2016. At EOS Coach in Bree, custom-made buses and parts that fell outside the standard production in Koningshooikt were produced. When it closed, 161 people lost their jobs. (b/dc)
READ ALSO: Last production days at EOS Bree