Northern Ireland’s Wrightbus has agreed a 1,000-bus deal with transport firm Go-Ahead, in a deal worth as much as £500 million (€600 million).
The Ballymena-based firm will provide the buses over the next three years, said the company. The deal, the largest in the firm’s history, safeguards 500 so-called green jobs at Wrightbus and will support an additional 1,500 across the supply chain, it added.
“This deal with Go-Ahead is hugely significant not just for Wrightbus and for Ballymena, but for the wider United Kingdom,” said chief executive Jean-Marc Gales. “It will support home-grown manufacturing, jobs and skills for the next three years and beyond.”
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As part of the agreement, a training and apprenticeships fund has been set up for Go-Ahead and Wrightbus employees, which will also mean placements are made available for students with special needs and young people not in training or education, said the company.
The new buses will also reduce carbon emissions from Go Ahead’s fleet, with more than 90 per cent of the order involving so-called zero-emission buses. Over the life of the deal, about 1.13 million tonnes of CO2 will be mitigated when the vehicles are in operation. That is roughly the equivalent of removing 540,000 cars from the road, said Wrightbus.
“This multi-million-pound investment and partnership with Wrightbus will accelerate the transition to zero-emission fleet across the UK,” said Matt Carney, chief executive of Go-Ahead. “We are proud to be working in partnership with the UK Government and local authorities to deliver transformational environmental change for communities while supporting UK jobs and the growth of the country’s supply chain.”
The deal is the latest positive news for Wrightbus, which has expanded rapidly since being bought out of administration by British hydrogen-focused investor Jo Bamford in 2019. Since the buyout, Wrightbus has focused on the production of hydrogen and electric-powered buses at its Antrim base. It launched its first zero-emission bus in 2020 in Aberdeen.
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