Port Talbot Steelworks
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Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
production plant in
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 ...
,
West Glamorgan , HQ= County Hall, Swansea , Government= West Glamorgan County Council (abolished 1996) , Status= , Start= 1974 , End= 1996 , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Wes ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel
slab Slab or SLAB may refer to: Physical materials * Concrete slab, a flat concrete plate used in construction * Stone slab, a flat stone used in construction * Slab (casting), a length of metal * Slab (geology), that portion of a tectonic plate tha ...
per annum. This makes it the larger of the two major steel plants in the UK and one of the largest in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. Over 4,000 people work at the plant. The majority of the slab is rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The remainder is processed at other
Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company, based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO), Tata ...
plants or sold in slab form. The works covers a large area of land which dominates the south of the town. Its two
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 ...
s and
steel production Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and carbon/or scrap. In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and excess carbon (the most important impurity) are removed from the sourced iron, and ...
plant buildings are major landmarks visible from both the
M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
and the
South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell De Cymru), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. ...
when passing through the town.


History

The site at Margam is made up of a number of plants across a large site, developed since 1901.


Port Talbot works

The original works were built by Gilbertson, and situated south of Port Talbot railway station. Constructed in 1901–5, the works was named after
Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot FRS (10 May 1803 – 17 January 1890) was a Welsh landowner, industrialist and Liberal politician. He developed his estate at Margam near Swansea as an extensive ironworks, served by railways and a port, which was ...
of
Margam Castle Margam Castle, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales, is a late Georgian country house built for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot. Designed by Thomas Hopper, the castle was constructed in a Tudor Revival style over a five-year period, from 1830 to 1835. ...
, the principal sponsor of the developments at
Port Talbot docks The port of Port Talbot is located on the River Afan estuary next to Port Talbot Steelworks in the industrial town of Port Talbot, South Wales. The whole basin complex covers about , consisting of: an inner set of floating docks, developed from 1 ...
, which had opened in 1837. The site was closed in 1961 and demolished in 1963. The General Offices housed Port Talbot
magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cour ...
until 2012, but the rest of the site is an
industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...
.


Margam works

Steelmaking at the Port Talbot complex began with the Margam Iron and Steel Works, completed between 1923 and 1926.


Abbey works

Abbey Steelworks was planned in 1947, but today is correctly termed Tata Steel Strip Products UK Port Talbot Works. It is believed to be named after the
Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
Margam Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into T ...
Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...
that used to be on the site – a small amount of the original building still stands (protected) within the site that survived the dissolution of the monasteries. Several steel manufacturers in South Wales pooled their resources to form the Steel Company of Wales, to construct a modern integrated steelworks on a site then owned by Guest, Keen and Baldwins. However, political manoeuvring led to
tinplate Tinplate consists of sheets of steel coated with a thin layer of tin to impede rusting. Before the advent of cheap milled steel, the backing metal was wrought iron. While once more widely used, the primary use of tinplate now is the manufacture of ...
production being retained in its original heartland further west, at two new works in
Trostre Pemberton is an area situated east of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is part of the Llanelli Rural (Welsh-Llanelli Wledig) community bordering Llanelli and the villages of Cwmcarnhywel, Dafen, Carmarthenshire, Dafen, Cefncaeau and the out ...
and
Felindre Felindre is a rural village in southern Wales. Felindre is located in the far north of Swansea, in the electoral ward of Mawr. The nearby Lower Lliw Reservoirs are a popular venue for walking and fishing. The water mill in the village was workin ...
. The steelworks were built upon 32,000 piles into sand and peat. Opened in 1951, it was fully operational by 1953. Once the new No.4 and 5 furnaces began production, the older furnaces, numbers 1 and 2 built in the 1920s, were demolished. No.3 furnace, built in 1941, was retained and used as a stand-by, until demolished in the mid-2000s. At the time of peak
employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
in the 1960s, the Abbey Works was
Europe's Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entire ...
largest steelworks and the largest single
employer Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
in Wales, with a labour force of 18,000. In 1967, The Steel Company of Wales was nationalised and absorbed into
British Steel Corporation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
, which was subsequently privatised and merged to form
Corus Group Corus may refer to: Places *Çörüş, Gazipaşa, a village in Antalya Province, Turkey Facilities and structures * Corus Quay, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; an office tower Fictional locations * Corus, a fictional world that is the setting for the ...
.
Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...
agreed to purchase all Corus' ordinary shares in March 2007, and the deal was concluded in April 2007. In 2010 it was announced that Corus was to be rebranded to the group name of Tata Steel Europe.


Today

An integrated steelmaking site using imported ore and coal, together with
Llanwern steelworks Llanwern steelworks is located in Llanwern, east of the City of Newport, South Wales. History Built for Richard Thomas & Baldwins Ltd, the works was originally referred to locally as "The RTB", before being called Spencer Works and later Lla ...
, the plants produced up to 3.5 million tonnes of
hot rolled In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...
and
cold rolled In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...
annealed steel coils per annum, for a variety of different end uses. Output is taken by rail from
Margam Knuckle Yard Margam Knuckle Yard is a railway yard in Margam, South Wales, on the South Wales Main Line, operated by DB Schenker Rail (UK). The yard is the major freight yard of the region, handling all of the rail freight movements from Port Talbot Steelwork ...
to: Shotton for coating; Trostre for tinplating; or direct to the Midlands motor industry and domestic goods.
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
have used the Port Talbot steelworks a number of times to film.


Financial challenges

Tata Steel announced on 30 March 2016 it may pull out of its UK operations, including Port Talbot. It provided as reasons "imports of Chinese steel, high energy costs and weak demand ". "Plans to save the steelworks were put on hold when potential buyers indicated their intention to withdraw from the bidding process due to the UK voting in favour of withdrawing from the EU" . However, the Brexit vote had the opposite effect with Tata Steel reconfirming commitment to the self-sustaining finance of its UK operations, while selling the EU - Netherlands operations. The UK Government said it "remains committed to supporting a sustainable, long-term future for steel making in the UK".


Fatal accidents

An explosion at the Port Talbot plant in November 2001 killed three men. Len Radford, 53, Stephen Galsworthy, 25, and Andrew Hutin, 20, died when blast furnace five erupted, sending molten liquid down on them. Twelve other men were seriously injured in the blast. The blast heavily damaged No.5, which was rebuilt and resumed operation from 2003 onwards. In July 2012 Tata Steel were fined £500,000 over the 2006 death of worker Kevin Downey at the Port Talbot plant. Engulfed in steam d during a night shift, Downey wandered into a channel of molten slag heated to 1500 °C. He was rescued by colleagues, but suffered 85% burns and died later that day. At the time of the accident the Port Talbot plant was controlled by Corus Steel UK, and taken over by Tata in 2007.


Nearest places

*
Port Talbot docks The port of Port Talbot is located on the River Afan estuary next to Port Talbot Steelworks in the industrial town of Port Talbot, South Wales. The whole basin complex covers about , consisting of: an inner set of floating docks, developed from 1 ...
*
Taibach Taibach or Tai-bach ( en, Little Houses) is a community and suburban district of Port Talbot, Wales. It is a settlement centered on the main A48 road, sandwiched between the river Ffrwdwyllt and Margam. Parts of Margam are within the community bo ...
*
Margam Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into T ...
* Eglwys Nunydd reservoir *
Kenfig Kenfig ( cy, Cynffig) is a village and former borough in Bridgend, Wales. It is situated inland on the north bank of the Bristol Channel, and just south-west of the M4 motorway. To the east is the town of Bridgend, at approximately , and the c ...


References


External links


BBC - South West Wales in pictures:Port Talbot Slideshow Tour
* ttp://www.steel-photo.org/tag/port-talbot/ The Abbey Works {{coord, 51.56613, N, 3.76831, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Tata Steel Europe Buildings and structures in Port Talbot Ironworks and steelworks in Wales