A train load of coking coal has been delivered to British Steel Scunthorpe. The delivery kept the blast furnaces hot at the troubled plant on the east coast of England. There was a genuine danger of these last two blast furnaces in the UK going offline permanently. A government intervention was required to keep the plant alive, part of which involved this delivery of coking coal.
The new UK management at Scunthorpe steelworks has wasted no time in moving raw materials to the site. It has overseen the arrival of a first train load of coking coal, which kept the fires burning. There were a series of crisis meetings held just before Easter, including a rare parliamentary recall, which has brought the Scunthorpe plant into public ownership (a nationalisation in all but name).
Steelworks stood in the balance
A consignment of coking coal has been delivered by rail to Scunthorpe steel works. The load, originating in America, was shipped to Immingham, where British Steel has a dedicated bulk handling facility for coke and iron ore, the raw materials for steel making in a traditional blast furnace. A DB Cargo UK class 66 diesel locomotive hauled the shipment along the short 20-mile (32km) route to the plant.
“Wednesday [16 April] saw vital raw materials unloaded at Immingham, before bringing them to British Steel’s blast furnaces in Scunthorpe,” said Allan Bell, Interim Chief Executive Officer of British Steel. “Given just a week ago, the future of the steelworks stood in the balance, it has been remarkable to see the country rally around the last remaining blast furnaces.”
Rail and Construction steel products
British Steel, under its new government-appointed management, released this video (below) on their social media channels, showing the train arriving on Thursday (17 April). Questions had been raised over the previous Chinese management’s use of road transport for such deliveries, especially as rail facilities exist at Immingham. RailFreight.com understands this may have been a cost-cutting measure. However, there appears to be an immediate sea-change in attitude at the plant in the last week, including this urgent delivery by rail.
“We have hope for the future of steelmaking in Scunthorpe given the strategic importance of Rail and Construction steel products which are vital to support the UK’s infrastructure projects which contribute to our growing economy,” said Allan Bell. “There is a bright future for steel in Scunthorpe. Our steelmakers are the finest in the world and we are endlessly grateful for their unwavering dedication.”
UK would be unable to manufacture virgin steel
Steel production in the UK has been in steep decline for several decades. After the closure of the Indian owned Port Talbot works in Wales (itself highly controversial), Scunthorpe was the only remaining production plant, where two blast furnaces provide virgin steel for the UK market, notably casting the metal for rail tracks.
Matters reached a head when Jingye, the Chinese owners of the plant, who traded in the UK as British Steel, threatened the imminent closure of Scunthorpe, with the loss of thousands of jobs. The closure would have left the UK unable to manufacture virgin steel. Replacement electric arc furnaces, which are still at the planning stage, can only smelt scrap metal and do not provide high enough quality steel for some critical applications, including rail and defence contracts.
Raw materials for the plant are imported
Keeping the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe working now looks likely to provide work for rail freight operators. All the raw materials for the plant are imported, mainly via Immingham. Neither iron ore nor coal is mined in the UK. Coal mining has been closed down as a policy decision since the 1980s. Proposals for an opencast coal mine in Cumbria, in northwest England, which would have provided the high-quality coal required, have been repeatedly thwarted.
Ironically, the name “British Steel” has now been recycled several times. After an abortive nationalisation of the 1950s, the industry was first nationalised under the British Steel name in 1967. It then went through a partial privatisation in 1988, and subsequently passed through several ownerships, before the Port Talbot works passed to Tata Steel of India, and Scunthorpe became the property of Jingye, who took the name British Steel. That trading name is now back under UK management.