Sheerness Steelworks
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Sheerness Steelworks was a steel plant located at Sheerness, on the
Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derive ...
, in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England. The plant opened in 1971 and produced steel via the
Electric Arc Furnace An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ...
(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.


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 per year, which was not seen as a threat to the operations of the Nationalised British Steel. The steelworks was constructed on the site of a former dockyard,The dockyard had closed in 1960 with the loss of 700 jobs military port and hospital in Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent in 1971. However, the full commissioning of the steelworks was not complete until March 1972, and the plant was formally opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 8 November 1972. 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 Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter processBrock and Elzinga, p. 50. is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowin ...
(BOS) process, which at that time, over half of the world's steel plants did. Because of this, it was described as a " mini-mill" in contrast to the integrated steelworks at Ravenscraig,
Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...
and
Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...
. The scrap metal was supplied by water-borne transport (from a scrapyard in Erith) or via inward rail transport, mostly south-eastern scrapyards (such as
Ridham Ridham Dock is a dock on The Swale in the English county of Kent. It is located in the parish of Iwade around north of Sittingbourne. History The dock was first planned to service the paper making industry in Sittingbourne. The dock was pla ...
and some across London). In the latter stages of the steelworks (2003–2012), 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. In 1980, the plant was picketed by steelworkers who were striking at British Steel plants, 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. 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. 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. 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. The takeover was described by analysts as a
reverse takeover A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...
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. 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.The former ASW workers were granted £12 billion from the European Court of Justice after a five-year battle In 2003, Thamesteel, a
Saudi Arabian Saudis ( ar, سعوديون, Suʿūdiyyūn) are people identified with the country of Saudi Arabia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. The Saudis are composed mainly of Arabs and primarily speak a regional dialect ...
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. The plant had not produced any steel since November 2011. In 2016, Peel Ports, the owners of the site, had 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. In the same year, Liberty House announced its intention to lease the remainder of the site, as the rolling mill on site was capable of producing up to 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 enough. 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.


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References

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External links


Diagram of the site on the kentrail website
Ironworks and steelworks in England Economy of Kent History of Kent Manufacturing plants in England