February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — An American shipping company and a German auto parts manufacturer are to create 1,150 jobs in Cork in a huge industrial boost for the Munster region.
The family-owned Kostal group is to spend £75 building a new plant in Mallow and upgrading an existing one at Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick. The Mallow facility will employ 850 over the next seven years.
Kostal, which supplies companies like Mercedes Benz, BMW, GM, Ford Volvo, Nissan and Toyota, started as an insulation company in Germany in 1912 and moved into car parts in 1927.
The company, which employs more than 9,000 worldwide, first came to Ireland in 1981. It makes a wide range of parts from electronic window lift controllers and rain sensors plastic injection molding.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-owned shipping company Sea-Land Service Inc. has chosen Cork Airport in the south of country over 11 other possible locations in Europe to set up a pan-European shared services center. This will lead to 300 jobs over three years with more later.
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Sea-Land, based in North Carolina, employs 9,100 worldwide and is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation of Richmond, Va. Sea-Land has 99 container ships servicing 120 ports in 80 countries.