The Belgian iron and steel producing company Ougrée-Marihaye was formed in 1835 by the merger of the iron and steel works in

Ougrée Ougrée ( wa, Ougrêye) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Seraing, located in the province of Liège, Belgium. It was a separate municipality before the merging of municipalities in 1977. Olympic swimmers Béatrice ...

(nr.

Seraing Seraing (; wa, Serè) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, Ougrée, and Seraing. With Liège, Herstal, Sai ...

) in

Liège Province Liège (; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Du ...

, and the coal mines of Marihaye. The company merged with the ''

Société anonyme John Cockerill Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the se ...

'' in 1955 to form

Cockerill-Ougrée Cockerill-Sambre was a group of Belgian steel manufacturers headquartered in Seraing, on the river Meuse, and in Charleroi, on the river Sambre. The Cockerill-Sambre group was formed in 1981 by the merger of two Belgian steel groups – SA Cock ...

History

In 1809 the ''Fabrique de Fer d'Ougrée''Actually based in

not Ougrée. (English: Iron factory of Ougree) was founded, and in 1834 converted into an integrated works. In 1835 the ''Société des Charbonnages et Hauts-Fourneaux d'Ougrée'' (English: Coal and

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

company of Ougree) was founded. In 1892 the two companies merged to form the ''Sociéte anonyme Ougrée'', this then merged with the ''Société des Charbonnages de Marihaye'' (English: Coal company of Marihaye) in 1900 to form the Sociéte anonym Ougrée-Marihaye. In 1905 it merged with the '' Sociéte anonyme des Hauts forneaux de Rodange'' (

Rodange Rodange (german: Rodingen) is a town in the commune of Pétange, in south-western Luxembourg. It lies next to the border with Belgium, across which is the town of Athus. The town is to the south-west of the town of Pétange and to the west o ...

, Luxembourg). In 1929 it took over the ''SA des Charbonnages de Fontaine-l'Évêque'' (English: Coal company of

Fontaine-l'Évêque Fontaine-l'Évêque (; wa, Fontinne-l'-Eveke) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Fontaine-l'Évêque had a total population of 16,687. The total area is 28.41 km² which ...

), and in 1931 ''Alliance Monceau'' based in

Monceau-sur-Sambre Monceau-sur-Sambre ( wa, Moncea-so-Sambe) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, ...

. It was one of the primary metal producers in Belgium; by 1914 it operated 8

s, and had a steel production capacity of 500,000 tonnes, producing semi and finished products such as bar, plate, beams and rails. German occupation during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

brought much damage to the plant at Ougrée, after the war only two blast furnaces were operational; rebuilding took place between 1919 and 1924. Also between 1905 and 1928 the company operated an industrial

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with th ...

at one of its factories in Ougrée. In 1923 in association with the ''Société de l'Air Liquide'' the company founded the ''Société Belge de l'Azote'', based in Ougrée which produced synthetic

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

. The negative effects of the 1930s depression caused the company to require financial assistance; restructuring followed; in 1936 the company's facilities in Hainaut became a separate company '' Aciéries et Minières de la Sambre'' (AMS),Later to form '' Thy-Marcinelle et Monceau'', a predecessor of ''

Hainaut-Sambre Hainaut-Sambre was a Belgian group of steel companies based in the Charleroi region, it was founded in 1955 by the merger of ''Usine Métallurgiques du Hainaut'' (based in Couillet, Charleroi), and the metal making division of '' Sambre et Moselle ...

'' and in 1937 the Rodange plant became an independent entity as '' Minière et Métallurgique de Rodange'' (MMR) In 1955 the company merged with the ''

'' to form

Legacy

The factory in Ougrée became one of the primary hot production sites of the

ArcelorMittal Liège Cockerill-Sambre was a group of Belgian steel manufacturers headquartered in Seraing, on the river Meuse, and in Charleroi, on the river Sambre. The Cockerill-Sambre group was formed in 1981 by the merger of two Belgian steel groups – SA Cocke ...

division along with works at Seraing and Chertal. Due to the economic downturn caused by the

financial crisis of 2007–2010 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

blast furnace B temporarily stopped production from spring 2009 to April 2010. In 2011, all liquid steel production in the

division was ended, resulting in protests, strikes, and the temporary encapsulation of several ArcellorMittal executives as protest against the closure. The company cited overcapacity, and uncompetitiveness as reasons for the closure; a report by Syndex commissioned by trade unions contradicted the claims of un-competitiveness, claiming ArcelorMittal's reports used biased accounting unions officials called for the liegeois steel industry to be taken into ownership outside ArcellorMittal to protect it.Sources: * * * * * *

Notes

References

Sources

* *

External links

*, Steelworks in Ougrée, (nr. Liège), Seraing, Belgium * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ougree-Marihaye Steel companies of Belgium Defunct manufacturing companies of Belgium ArcelorMittal Cockerill Company (Belgium) Seraing Manufacturing companies established in 1835 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1955 1835 establishments in Belgium 1955 disestablishments in Belgium