Sheerness Steelworks

Last updated

Sheerness Steelworks
Sheerness Steel Mill - geograph.org.uk - 4297.jpg
Sheerness Steel Mill
Kent UK relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location within Kent
Sheerness Steelworks
Built19711972
Operated19722002, 20032012
Location Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England
Coordinates 51°26′23.4″N0°45′08.6″E / 51.439833°N 0.752389°E / 51.439833; 0.752389
IndustrySteel making
ProductsSteel bar
Steel rod
Steel wire
Employees400 (Thamesteel period)
Volume1,400,000 tonnes (1,500,000 tons) Billet/Bar rod
Owner(s)Co-Steel, 19721998
Allied Steel & Wire, 19982002
Thamesteel, 20022012
Liberty House, 2016

Sheerness Steelworks was a steel plant located at Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent, England. The plant opened in 1971 and produced steel via the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) method rather than as a primary metal by the smelting of iron ore. The plant has closed down twice in its history; first in 2002 and again in 2012. Current owners Liberty House, had announced plans to re-open part of the site in 2016.

Contents

History

The UK Government approved an application to build a steelworks in North Kent in May 1968. The output from the plant was due to be 188,000 tonnes (207,000 tons) per year, which was not seen as a threat to the operations of the nationalised British Steel. [1] The steelworks was constructed on the site of a former dockyard, [note 1] [2] military port and hospital in Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent in 1971. [3] However, the full commissioning of the steelworks was not complete until March 1972, [4] and the plant was formally opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 8 November 1972. [5]

The Sheerness site made steel from scrap metal using the EAF method with scrap metal as opposed to the normal route which was to smelt iron ore and carbon in a Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) process, which at that time, over half of the world's steel plants did. [6] Because of this, it was described as a "mini-mill" in contrast to the integrated steelworks at Ravenscraig, Port Talbot and Scunthorpe. The scrap metal was supplied by water-borne transport (from a scrapyard in Erith) [7] or via inward rail transport, mostly south-eastern scrapyards (such as Ridham and some across London). In the latter stages of the steelworks (20032012), some of the scrap was sourced from areas out of the south-east such as Crossley's at Shipley and Thomson's scrapyard in Stockton-on-Tees. [8]

In 1980, the plant was picketed by steelworkers who were striking at British Steel plants, [5] and in 1984, miners who were on the miners' strike picketed the plant because the Co-Steel workers had not downed tools to join them on strike as other steelworkers had. However, Co-Steel, a Canadian registered company, was an independent steel-making concern and not part of the then Nationalised British Steel. [9]

The 1980s were an unsettled period for the steel industry and the Co-Steel management implemented changes to working practices and also persuaded all employees to become salaried staff as part of the company with a medical plan. In doing so, the whole plant became non-union by 1992. [10] This later led to picketing at the gates as union members accused the management of the plant of having a "Dickensian attitude" to its workers. [11]

In December 1998, Allied Steel & Wire (ASW) made a bid to take over the Co-Steel plant so as to consolidate its power in the steel market in Europe. [12] The takeover was described by analysts as a reverse takeover as Co-Steel was in profit at the time of the takeover and ASW was in debt. This amalgamation was completed by April 1999 with Sheerness losing 160 out of its 580 jobs, one furnace and its rod mill. [13] [14] In 2002, ASW went into administration and was subsequently bought by a Spanish firm, Celsa. This led to 320 redundancies from the plant and a protracted battle for some to get their pension money back from the defunct ASW. [15] [note 2] [16]

In 2003, Thamesteel, a Saudi Arabian backed company, reopened the plant to produce steel billet and export it to the Middle-East. In January 2012, Thamesteel went into administration and the site later closed with the loss of 400 jobs. [17] The plant had not produced any steel since November 2011. [18]

In 2016, Peel Ports, the owners of the site, had 32 acres (13 ha) of the former steelworks site demolished and remediated at a final cost of £37 million. The work was undertaken to enable Peel Ports to enhance their car import and export business through the port. The works included infilling of the former steelworks cooling ponds and adding new warehousing and an improved rail connection. [19] In the same year, Liberty House announced its intention to lease the remainder of the site, [20] as the rolling mill on site was capable of producing up to 750,000 tonnes (830,000 tons) of rolled steel per year. Initial estimations were that the site would employ 60 people and possibly up to a further 40 employees if business was sufficient. [21] The Electric Arc Furnace on site was dismantled and taken to the Liberty Steel works at Newport in South Wales as this was far cheaper than having a new EAF built at Newport. [22]

Statistics

OwnersYearEmployeesProductsVolumeNotes
Co-Steel1998580 [13]
ASW2002300 [23] [24]
Thamesteel2012400Bar & Billet840,000 tonnes (930,000 tons) Billet; 600,000 tonnes (660,000 tons) Bar rod [16]

Notes

  1. The dockyard had closed in 1960 with the loss of 700 jobs
  2. The former ASW workers were granted £12 billion from the European Court of Justice after a five-year battle

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheerness</span> Town in Kent, England

Sheerness is a port town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 13,249, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town of Minster which has a population of 16,738.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham Dockyard</span> Former Royal Navy Dockyard in Kent

Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham; at its most extensive two-thirds of the dockyard lay in Gillingham, one-third in Chatham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodham Brothers</span> Welsh scrapping company

Woodham Brothers Ltd is a trading business, based mainly around activities and premises located within Barry Docks, in Barry, South Wales. It is noted globally for its 1960s activity as a scrapyard, where 297 withdrawn British Railways steam locomotives were sent, from which 213 were rescued for the developing railway preservation movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scrap</span> Recyclable materials left over from manufactured products after their use

Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recovered metals, and non-metallic materials are also recovered for recycling. Once collected, the materials are sorted into types – typically metal scrap will be crushed, shredded, and sorted using mechanical processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steel mill</span> Plant for steelmaking

A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finished casting products are made from molten pig iron or from scrap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electric arc furnace</span> Type of furnace

An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheerness line</span> Railway line in Kent, England

The Sheerness line is located in Kent, England, and connects Sheerness-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey with Sittingbourne on the mainland, and with the Chatham Main Line for trains towards London, Ramsgate or Dover Priory. It opened on 19 July 1860.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tata Steel Europe</span> Multinational steelmaking company

Tata Steel Europe Ltd. was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the British-Dutch Corus Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravenscraig steelworks</span>

The Ravenscraig steelworks, operated by Colvilles and from 1967 by British Steel Corporation, consisted of an integrated iron and steel works and a hot strip steel mill. They were located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teesside Steelworks</span>

The Teesside Steelworks was a large steelworks that formed a continuous stretch along the south bank of the River Tees from the towns of Middlesbrough to Redcar in North Yorkshire, England. At its height there were 91 blast furnaces within a 10-mile radius of the area. By the end of the 1970s there was only one left on Teesside. Opened in 1979 and located near the mouth of the River Tees, the Redcar blast furnace was the second largest in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llanwern steelworks</span>

Llanwern steelworks is located in Llanwern, east of the City of Newport, South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheerness Dockyard</span> Former Royal Navy Dockyard in Kent, England

Sheerness Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the Sheerness peninsula, at the mouth of the River Medway in Kent. It was opened in the 1660s and closed in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thy-Marcinelle</span>

Thy-Marcinelle is a steelworks in Charleroi, Belgium, a subsidiary of the Riva group. The company is the descendant of one part of various steel companies based in the Charleroi industrial basin. Its history traces back through Cockerill-Sambre to the predecessors of Hainaut-Sambre, the companies Thy-Marcinelle et Monceau and Thy-Marcinelle et Providence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Colville & Sons</span>

David Colville & Sons, a Scottish iron and steel company, was founded in 1871 and it opened its Dalzell Steel and Iron Works at Motherwell in 1872. By the first World War, it was the largest steel works in Scotland and it continued to expanded afterwards taking over a number of other steel works in Cambuslang and Glengarnock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebbw Vale Steelworks</span>

Ebbw Vale Steelworks was an integrated steel mill located in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Developed from 1790, by the late 1930s it had become the largest steel mill in Europe. It was nationalised after World War II. As the steel industry changed to bulk handling, iron and steel making was ceased in the 1970s, and the site was redeveloped as a specialised tinplate works. It was closed by Corus in 2002, but is being redeveloped in a joint partnership between Blaenau Gwent Council and the Welsh Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridham Dock</span> Dock in Kent, England

Ridham Dock is a dock on The Swale in the English county of Kent. It is located in the parish of Iwade around 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Sittingbourne.

Sanjeev Gupta is an Indian-born British businessman, and the founder of Liberty House Group. He is the CEO and chairman of GFG Alliance, an international conglomerate that operates primarily in the steel and mining industries. Following the collapse of Greensill Capital in 2021, Sanjeev Gupta has been under scrutiny for his ties to the failed company, which involved opaque financing and sales invoices that Greensill's administrator has been unable to verify.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Steel (2016–present)</span> Steel manufacturer founded in 2016

British Steel Limited is a long steel products business founded in 2016 with assets acquired from Tata Steel Europe by Greybull Capital, then acquired by Jingye Group in 2020. The primary steel production site is Scunthorpe Steelworks, with rolling facilities at Skinningrove Steelworks, Teesside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clydebridge Steelworks</span>

The Clydebridge Steelworks, also known as Clydebridge Works, is a steel works in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teesside Beam Mill</span> Steelworks in North Yorkshire, England

Teesside Beam Mill (TBM) is a steel reheating and rolling plant located at Lackenby, on Teesside, North Yorkshire, England. The plant was set up in the 1950s by the Dorman Long company and began full production in 1958, making beams for building projects. The plant produces around 750,000 tonnes of steel products per year, and is the United Kingdom's only producer of large steel sections for the building industry.

References

  1. "Steelworks, Thames Estuary - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  2. Platt, Len (2016). Writing London and The Thames Estuary 15762016. Leiden: Brill Rodopi. p. 121. ISBN   9789004346659.
  3. "Sheerness Dockyard and Sheerness Steel Works". kentrail.org.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  4. "Former Thamesteel Site, Brielle Way, Sheerness, Kent" (PDF). services.swale.gov.uk. p. 145. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  5. 1 2 Nurden, John (4 May 2017). "End of an era as steel mill bites the dust". Kent Online. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  6. Nurden, John (12 May 2017). "Memories of old steel works as demolition crew moves in". Kent Online. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  7. Winch, C (March 2014). "Kemsley SPN Regional Development Plan" (PDF). library.ukpowernetworks.co.uk. p. 13.
  8. Shannon, Paul (2008). "5. Metals". Rail Freight Since 1968; Bulk Freight (1 ed.). Kettering: Silver Link. pp. 79–99. ISBN   978-1-85794-299-6.
  9. Hermiston, Roger (5 March 2009). "Reporting the pickets". BBC - Today. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  10. Ahlbrandt, Roger S; Giarratani, Frank; Fruehan, Richard J (1996). The renaissance of American steel : lessons for managers in competitive industries . Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.  111. ISBN   9780195108286.
  11. Clark, Andrew (13 November 1998). "Trouble at mill gates as Kent steelworks converts its operatives into 'managers'". The Daily Telegraph. ProQuest   317117256.
  12. Guerrara, Francesco (22 December 1998). "Tough markets prompt ASW bid for rival Co-Steel". The Independent. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  13. 1 2 "BBC News | The Company File | Steel jobs on the line". BBC News. 24 December 1998. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  14. "BBC News | The Economy | Steel jobs to go". BBC News. 26 April 1999. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  15. "Hope for new jobs at steelworks". BBC News. 12 August 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  16. 1 2 "Thamesteel - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  17. Farrell, Sean (20 April 2016). "How the UK steel crisis unfolded". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  18. Smith, Tim (26 January 2012). "UK's Thamesteel goes into administration | Steel Times International". www.steeltimesint.com. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  19. Morby, Aaron (24 August 2017). "Sisk set for £37m Sheerness steelwork clear-up | Construction Enquirer". www.constructionenquirer.com. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  20. Tovey, Alan (14 October 2016). "Vote of confidence in UK steel as Liberty plans to reopen Kent plant". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  21. Pooler, Michael (14 October 2016). "Liberty House to reopen Kent steel works" . Financial Times. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  22. Tovey, Alan (5 March 2016). "New steel jobs at risk as Liberty balks at high energy costs". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  23. "Allied Steel and Wire". BBC News. 16 November 2002. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  24. "Sheerness steel plant adrift after ASW sale". Kent Online. 10 January 2003. Retrieved 1 September 2018.