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38-530: Port Talbot Steelworks is a steel mill in Port Talbot , Wales . Over 4,000 people worked at the plant until the last blast furnace closed in October 2024. Around 2,000 employees remain after this time, processing imported steel slabs to produce rolled steel products. The mill is in the process of building a 320-ton capacity electric arc furnace which would be operational in late 2027. The majority of

76-709: A rolling mill . Originally the minimill was adapted to production of bar products only, such as concrete reinforcing bar , flats, angles, channels, pipe, and light rails. Since the late 1980s, successful introduction of the direct strip casting process has made minimill production of strip feasible. Often a minimill will be constructed in an area with no other steel production, to take advantage of local markets, resources, or lower-cost labour. Minimill plants may specialize, for example, in making coils of rod for wire-drawing use, or pipe, or in special sections for transportation and agriculture. Capacities of minimills vary: some plants may make as much as 3,000,000 tons per year,

114-483: A few hours, the accumulated liquid iron is tapped from the blast furnace and either cast into pig iron or directed to other vessels for further steel making operations. Historically the Bessemer process was a major advancement in the production of economical steel, but it has now been entirely replaced by other processes such as the basic oxygen furnace . Molten steel is cast into large blocks called blooms . During

152-512: A further extension to the dock facilities in 1898. The PTR&D had developed extensive railway yards surrounding the docks, particularly the pair of Duffryn Yards, Duffryn No.1 and Duffryn No.2. The PTR&D was absorbed by the Great Western Railway on 1 January 1922. By the 1950s, a combination of factors was bringing about the need for the redevelopment of transport facilities at Margam. The steelworks had integrated under

190-466: A modern integrated steelworks on a site then owned by Guest, Keen and Baldwins . However, political manoeuvring led to tinplate production being retained in its original heartland further west, at two new works in Trostre and Felindre . 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,

228-458: A need for both larger yards to handle the larger wagons, and fewer yards as high speed freight traffic ran between them to reduce speed of delivery for the customer. BSC was becoming BR's most important customer, with coal traffic quickly falling. Hence, in 1960 the development and construction of Margam Knuckle Yard on a former landfill site to the west, along the lines of the PTR&;D towards

266-524: A regular basis, minimills can follow the market demand for their products easily, operating on 24-hour schedules when demand is high and cutting back production when sales are lower. 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

304-529: A sustainable, long-term future for steel making in the UK". In September 2023 the UK Government agreed to pay Tata a £500 million subsidy in order for it to invest in an electric arc furnace . This was in a bid to cut emissions resulting from the carbon-intensity of the current blast furnaces. Trade unions worried that the increased autonomy of the electric arc furnace would lead to job losses. Unions presented

342-457: A typical size is in the range 200,000 to 400,000 tons per year, and some old or specialty plants may make as little as 50,000 tons per year of finished product. Nucor Corporation , for example, annually produces around 9,100,000 tons of sheet steel from its four sheet mills, 6,700,000 tons of bar steel from its 10 bar mills and 2,100,000 tons of plate steel from its two plate mills. Since the electric arc furnace can be easily started and stopped on

380-461: A variety of different end uses. Output is taken by rail from Margam Knuckle Yard to Shotton for coating, Trostre for tinplating, or direct to the Midlands for the motor industry and domestic goods. 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

418-611: Is correctly termed Tata Steel Strip Products UK Port Talbot Works . It is believed to be named after the Cistercian Margam Abbey 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

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456-416: Is sometimes used with scrap, to help maintain desired chemistry of the steel, though usually DRI is too expensive to use as the primary raw steelmaking material. A typical mini-mill will have an electric arc furnace for scrap melting, a ladle furnace or vacuum furnace for precision control of chemistry, a strip or billet continuous caster for converting molten steel to solid form, a reheat furnace and

494-640: Is the pollution produced in the manufacture of coke , which is an essential intermediate product in the reduction of iron ore in a blast furnace. Integrated mills may also adopt some of the processes used in mini-mills, such as arc furnaces and direct casting, to reduce production costs. A minimill is traditionally a secondary steel producer; however, Nucor (one of the world's largest steel producers) and Commercial Metals Company (CMC) use minimills exclusively. Usually it obtains most of its iron from scrap steel, recycled from used automobiles and equipment or byproducts of manufacturing. Direct reduced iron (DRI)

532-486: The British Steel Corporation , and the post-war planned Abbey Works had opened in 1951, and was fully operational by 1953. Further increases in the volume of goods handling at the port were restricted by the docks inability to handle the new bulk carriers , with the old docks unable to accept a ship of greater than 10,000 tonnes deadweight (DWT). In 1966, work commenced on the construction of

570-509: The Llynvi and Ogmore Railway , consolidated what was one of a series of new rail yard developments that supported major steel making facilities in the UK. The development at Margam also included the redevelopment of locomotive maintenance facilities, with the co-development of Margam TMD . The strategy of BSC had resulted in an integrated facility plan, with Port Talbot at the centre of steel making system: However, British Rails biggest problem

608-451: The M4 motorway and the South Wales Main Line when passing through the town. The site at Margam is made up of a number of plants across a large site, developed since 1901. 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 of Margam Castle , the principal sponsor of

646-718: The Port of Port Talbot . In 1894, the Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company had been formed to directly link the port to the various competitive railways, particularly the South Wales Mineral Railway and the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway ; and the coal mines and ironworks in the surrounding Llynfi and Garw valley areas, via the Duffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway . This facilitated

684-681: The EU dropped significantly and high-profile industry figures spoke out about the impact the TCA, which imposed some tariffs and quotas on UK steel exports, was having on UK steel. British Steel had also made a submission to the UK Parliament highlighting the importance of the EU market, which according to their figures accounted for 70% of UK steel exports, urging them to revise the TCA. Tata themselves also acknowledged that Brexit had increased their operating costs, estimating that it had added around 15% to

722-599: 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

760-550: The Port Talbot plant. Engulfed in steam during a night shift, Downey wandered into a channel of molten slag heated to 1500 °C (2700°F). 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 still controlled by Corus Steel UK. In 2019 a contractor was killed while servicing machinery at the plant. Tata Steel UK website 51°33′58″N 3°46′06″W  /  51.56613°N 3.76831°W  / 51.56613; -3.76831 Steel mill Since

798-492: The UK choosing to leave the EU would be "a disaster" for the UK's steel industry. The negative impact from Brexit as a result of uncertainty and lower EU customer orders was cited as one of the reasons behind the liquidation of British Steel, previously owned by Tata, prior to the UK even leaving the EU. Following the UK's departure from the EU and the implementation of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement , UK steel exports to

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836-482: The blast furnace grow cold, though some adjustment of the production rate is possible. Integrated mills are large facilities that are typically only economical to build in 2,000,000-ton per year annual capacity and up. Final products made by an integrated plant are usually large structural sections, heavy plate, strip, wire rod, railway rails , and occasionally long products such as bars and pipe . A major environmental hazard associated with integrated steel mills

874-472: The casting process various methods are used, such as addition of aluminum , so that impurities in the steel float to the surface where they can be cut off the finished bloom. Because of the energy cost and structural stress associated with heating and cooling a blast furnace, typically these primary steel making vessels will operate on a continuous production campaign of several years duration. Even during periods of low steel demand, it may not be feasible to let

912-464: The causes behind Tata choosing to close the blast furnaces in 2024 as opposed to accepting the proposal from unions to keep them open as the plant transitioned to more environmentally friendly methods of production. Many commentators have blamed Net Zero targets. However, Labour former Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones pointed to the UK's decision to leave the EU as a factor, stating that the uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in reluctance to invest in

950-479: The cost of transport and processing. Tata Steel also received criticism for stating environmental reasons were behind their decision to close the blast furnaces at Port Talbot due to their construction of new blast furnaces in India. There have been many fatalities caused by industrial accidents at the plant since its opening, the number having been reduced over the years by improved safety measures. An explosion at

988-474: The developments at Port of Port Talbot , which had opened in 1837. The site was closed in 1961 and demolished in 1963. The General Offices housed Port Talbot magistrates' court until 2012, but the rest of the site is an industrial estate . Steelmaking at the Port Talbot complex began with the Margam Iron and Steel Works, completed between 1923 and 1926. Abbey Steelworks was planned in 1947, but today

1026-488: The firm with a plan to keep one of the two blast furnaces open until 2032 in order to minimise job losses. The firm rejected the plan, announcing in January 2024 that they would close both blast furnaces, putting 3,000 jobs at risk. With Tata being the largest private employer in Port Talbot, concerns have been raised regarding the future economic health of the town. There has been controversy among some commentators around

1064-600: The invention of the Bessemer process , steel mills have replaced ironworks , based on puddling or fining methods. New ways to produce steel appeared later: from scrap melted in an electric arc furnace and, more recently, from direct reduced iron processes. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the world's largest steel mill was the Barrow Hematite Steel Company steelworks located in Barrow-in-Furness , United Kingdom . Today,

1102-448: The new Port Talbot Tidal Harbour , south-west of the existing docks system. Completed in 1970, it was the first dry-bulk cargo terminal in the UK capable of accepting ships in excess of 100,000 tonnes deadweight (DWT). British Railways was modernising freight distribution, with the former bespoke creation of manually loaded wagons being replaced by larger, bogeyed bulk-freight wagons that were automatically loaded. This resulted in

1140-567: 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 in the 1960s, the Abbey Works was Europe's largest steelworks and the largest single employer in Wales, with a labour force of 18,000. In 1967, The Steel Company of Wales was nationalised and absorbed into British Steel Corporation , which

1178-465: The plant and had made it less competitive and less viable as a business, highlighting that Tata was retaining blast furnace operations in the Netherlands and choosing to close them in the UK. Figures from the steel industry had for some time been warning that leaving the EU would have a negative impact on UK steel, and Stephen Kinnock , Port Talbot's MP, had also warned prior to the referendum that

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1216-419: The region, handling all of the rail freight movements from Port Talbot Steelworks , and most of the railfreight traffic around South Wales. The development of Port Talbot as an industrial centre started from the turn of the 20th century. The need for iron and steel producers to now import both ore and fuel, brought about the development of Port Talbot Steelworks , Margam Steelworks and associated expansion of

1254-578: The steel slabs produced before September 2024 was rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The remainder was processed at other Tata Steel plants or sold in slab form. After September 2024 imported steel slabs are used as inputs at those rolling plants. The works covers a large area of land which dominates the east of the town. Its two inactive blast furnaces and steel production plant buildings are major landmarks visible from both

1292-484: 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, in spite of the Brexit result and warnings from industry and elsewhere that leaving the EU could have a disruptive effect on UK steel, following the vote Tata recommitted to the plant. The UK Government said it "remains committed to supporting

1330-667: The top. Eventually replaced by two Class 56's , drivers reported that this combination could reach 12 miles per hour (19 km/h). After experimentation with two refurbished Class 37/7's, the company specially hired-in National Power 's newly purchased Class 59/2 . By January 2008, EWS was handling all 4.7million tonnes of steel product using either Class 60 or Class 66 . With the closure of Margam TMD, locomotive maintenance had moved to Knuckle, with C-Class services and brake tests requiring locomotives to be shipped to Toton TMD . Margam Knuckle handles other goods shipped through

1368-461: The world's largest steel mill is in Gwangyang , South Korea . An integrated steel mill has all the functions for primary steel production: The principal raw materials for an integrated mill are iron ore, limestone, and coal (or coke). These materials are charged in batches into a blast furnace where the iron compounds in the ore give up excess oxygen and become liquid iron. At intervals of

1406-616: Was subsequently privatised and merged with Hoogovens to form Corus Group . Tata Group 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. It is an integrated steelmaking site using imported ore and coal; together with Llanwern steelworks , the plants produce up to 3.5 million tonnes of hot rolled and cold rolled annealed steel coils per annum, for

1444-412: Was the 1.7million tonnes of raw iron ore required to be transported by rail to Llanwern Steelworks. Marshalling 27 × 100-tonne iron ore tipplers, the train was initially headed by three Class 37/0's , which continually caused problems with their couplings. The amount of power was required to climb Stormy Bank , located just west of Margam, where the train would only reach 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) at

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