Labor shortage delays DuPont plant completion

A worker shortage has delayed the completion date of DuPont’s cellulosic ethanol plant outside Nevada, according to the executive director of the Nevada Economic Development Council and an industry market research group.

Last February, DuPont officials said they expected the $200 million-plus facility to be operational before the end of 2014. DuPont has said the plant will produce up to 30 million gallons of corn-stover derived cellulosic ethanol each year.

According to LaVon Schiltz, executive director of the NEDC, the construction delay was caused by difficulties the project’s main construction contractor, Fagen Inc. of Granite Falls, Minn., has faced in recruiting enough workers.

“They have had some problems getting enough of all the different types of construction workers, which are pretty high-tech construction-type workers that travel all over the United States,” Schiltz said. “I know they’ve had some problems finding enough of them, because there’s a lot of construction going on in those types of avenues.”

Messages left with Fagen requesting more details about the delay were not returned.

According to Industrial Info Resources, an industry market research group based in Sugar Land, Texas, the delay has been caused by a shortage of pipefitters and millwrights, and a substantial amount of pipe work has yet to be completed.

IIR reported that a previous completion date of Jan. 1 had been delayed to sometime in March as a result.

Survey results published last October by the Associated General Contractors of America, an industry trade association, showed that 84 percent of responding construction contracting firms operating in the Midwest were having trouble finding qualified workers.

Reached for comment, DuPont spokeswoman Kelly Woerdehoff declined to address or acknowledge the labor shortage or give a specific expected completion date. However, Woerdehoff provided the Ames Tribune a general statement on the construction delay that she attributed to Jan Koninckx, the company’s global business director for advanced biofuels.

“We continue to make progress on our Nevada, Iowa, biorefinery and expect mechanical completion in (the first quarter) of 2015, followed by a commissioning period that will take several months as we ensure safety, quality and performance to meet our rigorous standards,” the statement said.

Keith Gibson, the DuPont plant manager, provided the same statement but said company rules prohibited him from elaborating on it.

Source: Ames Tribune