Key sectors

North Lincolnshire has excellent multimodal transport links providing business with fast easy access to national and international markets over road, rail, sea, and air. The area's functional economic geography puts us at the heart of the UK's energy and food corridor stretching from the east coast through to South Yorkshire.

The Humber is a critical gateway to UK, European and global markets – the UK's largest by volume – and forms part of the North European Trade Axis Its strategic network corridors play a key role in facilitating trade across Europe. Deep-sea feeder operations to Rotterdam and air freight feeder operations to Amsterdam Schiphol provide fast, frequent onward services to global markets.

North Lincolnshire has an advanced ports and logistics cluster centred around the South Humber Ports complex (also known as the South Humber Gateway), serving key manufacturing, steel, petrochemical, food, energy and offshore renewables industries in the Humber.

Significant strengths, capabilities and assets across a broad spectrum of advanced manufacturing, chemicals manufacturing and processing, as well as an extensive logistics sector, providing opportunities for the supply chain and distribution.

The Humber's world-leading decarbonisation projects have the potential to create sustainable growth opportunities for the circular economy and low-carbon supply chain. North Lincolnshire's low carbon energy proposition is potentially attractive to low carbon manufacturers in sectors such as sustainable transport, thus creating further potential growth opportunities for logistics companies.

Greater Lincolnshire's only airport, Humberside Airport, supports the off shore oil and gas industry as well as the offshore wind sector with helicopters transporting operation and maintenance workers.

North Lincolnshire is critical to the UK's plans to deliver on its net zero target by 2050 and the area's assets – refineries, integrated steelwork, power plants and the largest remaining undeveloped site fronting a deep-water estuary for the renewables and energy sector – are nationally and globally recognised as critical infrastructure to achieving this.

North Lincolnshire is at the centre of Humber industrial cluster – the UK's highest concentration of energy intensive industries, with direct access to North Sea carbon storage sites and represents the UK's single biggest industrial decarbonisation opportunity.

The region's industries have embarked on the biggest energy transformation ever seen with world-leading decarbonisation projects underway which are focussing on the production and distribution of blue and green hydrogen for use as a sustainable fuel and feedstock, low-carbon power generation and the capture, transportation and sub-sea storage of carbon dioxide.

The area's South Humber Bank is home to a cluster of companies producing energy, innovative fuels and products from waste.

The presence of the South Humber Gateway plus North Lincolnshire's existing and developing infrastructure, long history of industry and energy production together with an experienced highly-skilled workforce and expertise presents high-value market opportunities for businesses engaged in low-carbon technology development, energy generation and industrial supply chains.

Supply chain constraint associated with the UK's renewable deployment ambitions present high-value investment opportunities.

North Lincolnshire's industrial area is a major cluster for manufacturing and represents an important employment provision and is the highest GVA contributor.

North Lincolnshire has an illustrious steel heritage spanning 150 years and the economy is predominantly a producer economy characterised by manufacturing, process industries, energy generation, engineering and logistics. Whilst other areas have seen a declining in their manufacturing workforce North Lincolnshire's is still strong and has seen a consistent and sustained growth since of over 3 per cent in the five years to 2022.

The manufacturing sector in North Lincolnshire is diverse, comprising a wide-ranging set of industries, technologies and activities.

Alongside established industries such as petrochemicals, steel manufacture, furniture production and food production, new industries are beginning to develop based around emerging technologies.

Other high employment concentrations are the manufacture of furniture and rubber and plastics.

North Lincolnshire is one of the UK's outstanding manufacturing locations at the centre of food belt from York to Lincoln (north to south) and energy corridor (east to west) with excellent connectivity and logistics for fast access to UK and global markets.

The Humber's world-leading decarbonisation projects have the potential to create sustainable growth opportunities for the circular economy and low-carbon supply chain.

North Lincolnshire's UK mid-point eastern location on the South Humber Bank of the Humber estuary, along with its excellent logistics infrastructure, play vital roles in the area's robust and advanced construction cluster which serves the strong manufacturing, steel, petrochemical and energy sectors.

The Construction sector is an essential part of North Lincolnshire's economy for the growing housing sector, and aligned manufacturing and advanced engineering industries which provides and maintains a highly concentrated workforce.

Many of the international companies operating in the sector use cutting-edge techniques and take a global lead in advancing the technology. The development and use of advanced materials are also common in the region.

North Lincolnshire's rail sector has a long association with Scunthorpe British Steel, where most of Britain's rail tracks are made, and with continued technological advancements will further win major global contracts.

North Lincolnshire's geology ensures the presence of several different mineral resources in the area. These include sand and gravel, limestone, chalk, silica sand, clay, ironstone and peat as well as hydrocarbon (oil and gas) deposits.

North Lincolnshire construction sector is well placed to benefit from the opportunities presented by the global shift to a low carbon economy and green construction.

Businesses, here are already seeing the benefit from the many projects forming the Humber 2030 Vision around decarbonisation. These opportunities will only continue at scale and pace to create sustainable growth opportunities for the circular economy and low-carbon supply chain.

North Lincolnshire, is undergoing a remarkable digital transformation. It is now emerging as a hub for digital innovation and technology-driven growth. One of the primary catalysts for North Lincolnshire's digital evolution is the significant investment in digital infrastructure. High-speed broadband and 5G networks are being rolled out across the region, ensuring that businesses and residents have access to fast and reliable internet connectivity. This infrastructure is the backbone of the digital economy, enabling everything from remote work to advanced manufacturing processes.

Thriving Tech Startups - North Lincolnshire is witnessing a surge in tech startups, thanks to a supportive ecosystem that includes incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces. These startups are leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to create innovative solutions across various industries. The region's affordability and quality of life make it an attractive destination for entrepreneurs looking to establish and grow their businesses.

AI Data centres - North Lincolnshire Council wants the Government to designate an AI Growth Zone in Northern Lincolnshire, bringing the prospect of nearly 10,000 new construction jobs, 1,200 new jobs on site and a further 4,000 industrial jobs safeguarded through supply chain opportunities.

The AI Growth Zone would mean £15bn in private business investment and 1.5 gigawatts of AI processing capacity coming to Northern Lincolnshire, helping to boost industries in the region and across the UK. The area is uniquely positioned to attract this opportunity thanks to its industrial base, skilled workforce and the fact it generates 20 per cent of the UK’s total electricity, including 27 per cent of its offshore wind.

Four major sites are in the early stage of development and one £3bn scheme – Humber Tech Park – has already been approved. Humber Tech Park, the UK’s first dedicated AI training data centre, will be built on land near the A180 to the south of South Killingholme and create around 400 well-paid jobs.

A second site is on unused land at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant. Thousands of green jobs will be created as the council continues to work with British Steel to deliver new investment on surplus land on the 300-acre site. The Northern Lincolnshire Artificial Intelligence Growth Zone will also commit to signing up to and adopting the UK Steel charter, further embedding UK produced steel in high-profile infrastructure projects alongside the recent Heathrow commitment. This will support the safeguarding of steel making in the UK and high-value jobs in the North Lincolnshire region.

North Lincolnshire Council is committed to delivering quality health and social care in the region for our residents. As people are living longer, some with complex long term health conditions due to medical advances, the need for health and social care will only grow.

This sector is an enabling sector as we know the pressures that caring for family members can have on working people. Ensuring that the health and social care sector is working well ensures that other sectors in North Lincolnshire can thrive.

North Lincolnshire has excellent multimodal transport links providing business with fast easy access to national and international markets over road, rail, sea, and air.

North Lincolnshire lies within the core food belt from York to Lincoln. The area demonstrates a core strength of growing, harvesting, processing, distributing and markets of food products and their derivatives. We have a significant number of small to multi-national companies working in the food processing and manufacturing sector.

North Lincolnshire's food manufacturing sector represents a significantly large percentage share of UK's total food manufacturing GVA; has a greater concentration of workers than the England rate, and only marginally lower than the Greater Lincolnshire UK Food Valley to which it belongs.

North Lincolnshire is home to multi-national companies working in food processing industries including 2 Sisters, OSI, Tayto and Jones Food Company.

The Humber is a critical gateway to UK, European and global markets – the UK's largest by volume – and forms part of the North European Trade Axis and its strategic network corridors play a key role in facilitating trade across Europe. Deep-sea feeder operations to Rotterdam and air freight feeder operations to Amsterdam Schiphol provide fast frequent onward services to global markets.

Sustainable Development Goals and the UK Government's plans to deliver net zero carbon food chain and food resilience are driving transformation across the whole food sector through the development of agri-food tech and shorter, more resilient, and greener supply chains and expanded domestic production and storage.

The Humber's world-leading decarbonisation projects have the potential to create sustainable growth opportunities for food manufacturing circular economy and low-carbon supply chain.

North Lincolnshire has a wealth of attractions and warm hospitality making it a hidden gem worth discovering. From historical landmarks and natural reserves to cultural centres and culinary delights, this charming region offers a rich and varied experience that will leave visitors with lasting memories.

Whether you're interested in outdoor activities, historical sites, or simply enjoying the natural beauty, North Lincolnshire has something for everyone. It really is the perfect place for your employees to work, play and live.

Go to visitnorthlincolnshire.com