Turkish conglomerate Eren Holding will safeguard and create hundreds of jobs close to the Wirral peninsula with its £1bn Shotton Mill hydrogen-powered containerboad production plant. Tony McDonough reports
A major foreign direct investment will see the existing Shotton Paper Mill transformed into a £1bn containerboad production facility.
Eren Holding, a family-owned Turkish conglomerate, has secured £13m in funding from the Welsh Government and with the Government’s UK Export Finance agreeing to underwrite a £136m Export Development Guarantee.
Located just inside North Wales, about a mile from the English border and three miles south of Neston in Wirral, will turn the UK from being a net importer to a net exporter of containerboad, which is used to make cardboard boxes and other packaging.
Construction is already under way on the plant, which will also make tissue paper, and is expected to be fully operational in the second half of 2025. It will safeguard 147 jobs at the existing mill, which opened in 1983, and create new jobs taking the total to 400.
Money from the Welsh government for the project is linked to the factory using recycled materials sourced within the UK. And the facility will be powered by a hydrogen-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) plant.
Hamdullah Eren, board member of Eren Holding, said: “This is the first step towards building a world-class facility that will completely transform recycling levels in the UK. We cannot wait to start production and to turn our vision into reality.
“We are extremely pleased to have the support of both the UK and Welsh Governments. This has allowed us to move forward with a major overseas investment as we realise our exciting plans for Shotton Mill.”
Occupying more than 200 acres, the site will include two advanced manufacturing operations – a cardboard paper machine (PM3) and a tissue paper machine (TM1).
PM3 will be the UK’s largest single paper machine, with the capacity to produce 750,000 tonnes of container board annually.
Even chief executive Sabri Cimen, added: “Eren Holding, as an industrial group, always uses the principle of investing in the best available technology and always works with experts and established companies.
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“This investment will build on the rich heritage of manufacturing on Deeside, and it will bring together people, community, advanced technology and investment. We are extremely proud to be a part of the renaissance of North Wales.”
Founded in 1969, Eren Holding is a family-owned conglomerate, with operations across sectors including energy production, port operations, paper manufacturing as well as packaging, cement, textiles, and retail. It acquired the Shotton Paper Mill in 2021.