Insolvent Bohai foundry closes main factory in Harzgerode

The insolvent foundry specialist Bohai must close its main factory in Harzgerode by the end of January.

The company's approximately 550 employees were informed by the insolvency administrator at a staff meeting on Monday afternoon. Bohai Automotive GmbH filed for bankruptcy in April. The insolvency administrator announced that a search for investors had been unsuccessful until recently. An interested party in whom hopes had been pinned until recently had also dropped out despite intensive negotiations.

Production will be reduced in the coming months. With insufficient capacity utilization, Bohai is not profitable for the clients in the long term. Production is still in deficit to this day and could only be continued “with significant financial support from key clients amounting to many millions of euros”.

The workforce contributed with great commitment, said the insolvency administrator Olaf Spiekermann. “Unfortunately, this was not enough due to a lack of future orders.” He now wants to negotiate a social plan with the works council and representatives of IG Metall.