End of an Industrial Era: Methanex Shutdown Puts 300 Taranaki Jobs on the Line
One of Taranaki’s biggest industrial employers is preparing to stop production after more than 40 years, prompting E tū to demand an urgent Just Transition plan to prevent hundreds of skilled workers and their whānau carrying the cost of a changing energy economy. Methanex has confirmed it expects to indefinitely idle its New Zealand methanol…
One of Taranaki’s biggest industrial employers is preparing to stop production after more than 40 years, prompting E tū to demand an urgent Just Transition plan to prevent hundreds of skilled workers and their whānau carrying the cost of a changing energy economy.
Methanex has confirmed it expects to indefinitely idle its New Zealand methanol production facilities during the first quarter of 2027, putting around 300 jobs at risk and potentially sending further shockwaves through contractors, suppliers and businesses across Taranaki.
The Canadian-owned company is New Zealand’s only methanol manufacturer and has operated in Taranaki for more than four decades.
For E tū Director Mat Danaher, the announcement should now trigger an urgent conversation about what happens to the workers, their whānau and the wider regional economy when a major industry disappears.
His message to the Government is clear: sympathy will not be enough.
300 workers facing an uncertain future
Methanex has entered into an agreement to sell substantially all of its remaining contracted New Zealand natural gas entitlements from the first quarter of 2027 through to the end of the decade.
The company says declining domestic gas availability and the absence of a clear pathway to significant new supply means continuing production in New Zealand is no longer sustainable.
Methanex intends to keep operating its Motunui facilities over the coming months before idling and preserving the plant, leaving open the possibility of a future restart should circumstances change.
But for its workforce, that longer-term possibility provides little certainty.
E tū says approximately 300 workers are employed by Methanex in New Zealand, many in highly skilled and well-paid industrial roles.
The impact is also unlikely to stop at the plant gates.
Engineering businesses, electrical and instrumentation specialists, contractors, transport operators and other businesses have developed around Taranaki’s energy sector over decades.
New Plymouth Mayor Max Brough has also warned that the consequences will extend into those supporting industries.
E tū demands a Just Transition
Danaher says the closure represents the end of an industrial era for Taranaki and argues workers cannot simply be left to navigate that transition alone.
E tū wants central government working alongside unions, iwi, industry and the wider Taranaki community on a coordinated Just Transition.
That means identifying new industries capable of providing good jobs, investing in retraining before workers become unemployed and ensuring the skills developed within Taranaki’s energy sector are retained in the region wherever possible.
The concept of a Just Transition is based on a straightforward principle: when major economic or technological change eliminates established industries, the workers and communities that built those industries should not be abandoned.
For Taranaki, that question is no longer theoretical.
The transition is happening.
From Waitara Valley to Motunui
Methanex’s decision has not come without warning.
The company mothballed its Waitara Valley plant in 2021 before reducing operations to a single Motunui plant in 2024, when around 70 jobs were lost.
The latest announcement takes that process considerably further.
Methanex has been one of New Zealand’s largest consumers of natural gas, accounting for about 40 percent of national gas use, while approximately 95 percent of its production has been exported into Asia-Pacific markets.
Its departure therefore has implications extending beyond employment.
It changes the dynamics of the domestic gas market and removes one of the largest industrial gas consumers from the New Zealand economy.
Port Taranaki preparing for the hit
The consequences are also expected to be significant for Port Taranaki, where Methanex has been its largest customer.
The port is already forecasting several difficult years as declining oil and gas activity combines with Methanex’s expected departure.
Port Taranaki says it expects total trade to fall to around 2.3 million tonnes annually for the next several years, compared with 4.7 million tonnes in 2023 and 5.5 million tonnes in 2020.
That demonstrates why E tū is framing the Methanex decision as a regional economic issue rather than simply a company restructuring.
When hundreds of well-paid jobs disappear, the lost wages flow through local shops, housing, hospitality and service businesses.
The effect can multiply quickly.
What happens to Taranaki’s skilled workforce?
The region nevertheless retains something enormously valuable: its people.
Taranaki has generations of experience in engineering, energy, fabrication, infrastructure, logistics and highly technical industrial work.
A successful transition would seek to transfer those skills into emerging industries rather than allowing workers to leave the region or disappear into lower-paid employment.
Renewable energy, offshore wind, electricity infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and other industrial developments could potentially provide pathways for some of that workforce.
Port Taranaki itself says it wants to develop into a broader energy and logistics hub, supporting traditional and emerging energy opportunities including offshore wind.
But those opportunities need investment, projects and jobs — not simply transition slogans.
Ara Ake decision back under spotlight
E tū is also using the Methanex announcement to criticise the Government’s decision affecting Ara Ake, Taranaki’s energy innovation centre.
Danaher argues the decision looks increasingly short-sighted when the region urgently needs organisations capable of helping develop its next generation of energy and industrial opportunities.
For the union, the question is not whether Taranaki’s economy will change.
It already is.
The question is whether that change is actively managed or workers are simply expected to absorb the consequences.
Iwi must be at the transition table
A Just Transition in Taranaki also has an important Māori dimension.
Iwi and hapū are not peripheral stakeholders in the future of the region.
They are landowners, employers, investors and kaitiaki with a direct interest in what replaces industries that have shaped Taranaki for generations.
New investment in energy and infrastructure also raises questions involving whenua, environmental impacts, workforce development and long-term regional prosperity.
E tū’s call for iwi to be involved alongside workers, government and industry therefore matters.
If billions of dollars of new investment eventually flow into the next generation of energy infrastructure, Māori should be participants in designing, owning and benefiting from that transition — not simply consulted after decisions have already been made.
A test of what Just Transition really means
Methanex says its immediate priority is supporting its employees through the transition and safely operating the facilities before production stops.
But the scale of the economic challenge extends far beyond what one employer can solve.
Around 300 workers now face an uncertain future.
Contractors and suppliers face lost business.
Port Taranaki is preparing for significantly lower trade.
And an energy region that has powered industries and supported the national economy for generations is confronting a fundamental transformation.
For Danaher and E tū, that makes Methanex a test case.
A Just Transition cannot simply mean acknowledging that economic change will happen and helping people after their jobs disappear.
It means acting before the gates close — retraining workers, securing investment, developing new industries and creating replacement jobs capable of supporting whānau.
Taranaki has until early 2027 before Methanex expects to stop production.
The clock is now running on whether New Zealand can turn the end of one industrial era into the beginning of another — without leaving hundreds of workers and their whānau behind.
