Industry
Holyhead's main industry was aluminium-based until September 2009, with Rio Tinto Group's Anglesey Aluminium subsidiary operating a massive aluminium smelter on the outskirts of the town, including a plant that refined bauxite. A large jetty in the harbour received ships from Jamaica and Australia, and their cargoes of bauxite and aluminium ores were transported on a cable belt rope driven conveyor belt that runs underneath the town to the plant. The jetty is now used by Anglesey County Council to dock cruise ships visiting from all over the world. The jetty is wide enough for coaches to travel down to collect and deliver passengers to the town and on local tours. The plant relied on its electricity supply from the island's nuclear power station at Wylfa, near Cemaes Bay. However, Wylfa is reaching the end of its life and only has permission to generate into 2012, and the ending of a low-cost electricity supply contract in 2009 impacted on the financial viability of the smelting plant. Continuing operations involve the remelting of aluminium scrap for re-use. The site is subject to proposals by a development company called Lateral Power.
Holyhead Port is a major employer, most of the jobs being linked to ferry services to the Republic of Ireland operated by Stena and Irish Ferries. Other significant industrial/transport sector employers in Holyhead include Holyhead Boatyard, Gwynedd Shipping, and Eaton Electrical, with the latter having seen many job losses in 2009. New retail developments in recent years have been a major source of new job creation.
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Famous quotes containing the word industry:
“No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)
“You must, to get through life well, practice industry with economy, never create a debt for anything that is not absolutely necessary, and if you make a promise to pay money at a day certain, be sure to comply with it. If you do not, you lay yourself liable to have your feelings injured and your reputation destroyed with the just imputation of violating your word.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)