The moves will result in 197 jobs being lost, although 40 new positions are being created.
The cooperative said both steps tie in with the planned transition to a portfolio with greater focus on added-value products. The planned merger in Maasdam will reduce FrieslandCampina’s CO2 emissions for its fresh-daily dairy production by 30%.
The production sites are part of FrieslandCampina Food & Beverage. Due to the planned closure of the milk powder towers in Leeuwarden, 55 of the 750 jobs will become redundant and in Rotterdam 142 jobs will be lost. At the same time, as a result of combining the activities, about 40 new jobs will be created on top of the 267 existing jobs in Maasdam. Staff at the three sites were informed of the plans last week.
FrieslandCampina said the adjustments to the production network will result in one-off costs of approximately €45m.
Roel van Neerbos, president FrieslandCampina Food & Beverage, said, “We are working on making our production network future-proof and more sustainable. Our starting point in that regard is the judicious transition to a product portfolio that meets market demand for more sustainable, added-value products, such as dairy featuring the ‘On the way to PlanetProof’ quality mark. This led to the decision to assign our fresh-daily dairy activities to Maasdam and to close two milk powder towers in Leeuwarden. We are fully aware that this will have consequences for the employees affected. Of course, we will support them as best as we can.”
The two milk powder towers in Leeuwarden will be closed on May 1, 2022. The Rotterdam site will close by no later than December 2023.
