IJmuiden steelworks

IJmuiden Steelworks is a steel mill in IJmuiden, Netherlands. Originally built by Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken (KNHS), it is now owned by Tata Steel Europe.

IJmuiden blast furnaces.

History

1914-1945

The site was on the north bank of the North Sea Canal, beyond its final locks, construction of harbors began -the inner harbour opened in 1920, and the outer harbour in 1923.

By 1924 the first blast furnace, casting hall, coke plant, and an electricity generating plant powered by waste gases from the coke ovens and blast furnaces. The second of two blast furnaces begun in 1919 became operational in 1926. Both blast furnaces were constructed to a design by American company Freyn, Brassert &Co.. The coking plant continued to be expanded throughout the 1920s and 30s, and after World War II. Coal tar by-product from coking was used by the chemical works Cindu (Chemische Industrie Uithoorn), cleaned coke oven gas was used in the site's power plant, and also in nearby municipalities. A brickworks (NV Phoenix Maatschappij voor Vervaardiging van Hoogovensteen), designed to utilise slag from the blast furnace to make building products - the enterprise ceased in 1927. A third blast furnace started operation in 1930.

In 1928 the KNHS and Royal Dutch Shell created a joint venture Mekog which was to manufacturer fertiliser using chemicals derived from coke oven gas. A second subsidiary was founded in 1930; an on site cement factory established as a joint venture between KNHS and the Dutch concrete company Eerste Nederlandse Cement Industrie (ENCI), it was named Cementfabriek IJmuiden (CEMIJ) and manufactured cement using granulated furnace slag as an additive.

During the 1930s the plant was further developed, turning from raw iron production to steel production using open hearth furnaces; again Freyr, Brassert & Co. were chosen to supply the plant's design. A pipe foundry was opened in 1936, and in 1938 construction of a steel conversion plant using the Siemens-Martin (Open Hearth) process was begun. The first (60t capacity) open hearth furance opened 19 March 1939, additional furnaces were added during the 1940s and early 1950s, and the capacity of the furnaces increased - by 1956 the plant had six furnaces, each of 190t capacity. Construction of the plant's first rolling mill (Walserij West) was begun in the late 1930s. During occupation during World War II the mill was confiscated and shipped to Watenstedt (Salzgitter), Germany where it was installed in the Reichswerke Hermann Göring steel plant. Post-war the mill was returned to the Netherlands, and remained in operation until decommissioned in 1992.

The Van Leer company established steel rolling mill (Walsbedrijven NV) at the IJmuiden site in the late 1930s; a plate mill began production in 1938, followed by a strip and profile mill in 1939. As built it was outdated; utilising second hand equipment; the mill was built to supply the Van Leer company's own steel needs, and not as an independent commercial concern. was During Nazi occupation during World War II Van Leer's Jewish owner Bernard van Leer was forced to flee the country in 1941, and the mill was acquired by KNHS, and integrated into the rest of the IJmuiden site, it became known as Walserij Oost, remaining in use until 1953, being replaced by the mills of Breedband NV.

The mouth of the North Sea canal at IJmuiden was used as a base for the Kriegsmarine, and the steelworks itself was a strategic target for attack, bombings and lack of raw materials brought production to a halt.

1945-1999

After the end of World War II reconstruction of the Netherlands began, as part of this process the steelworks was invested in; a separate company Breedband NV was established 19 June 1950, receiving funding from both the state and the United States Marshall Plan. The project introduced a hot and cold rolling mills for thin plate, of 60 and 75 thousand tonnes per year capacity respectively, and a galvanising line. All three installations were operating by the end of 1953. The Breedband project moved Hoogoven's emphasis into flat rather than long products, which continued in later decades.

During the 1950s and 1960 the facilities were extended; the plants first oxy-steel converted was put into operation in 1958, a second cold rolling line was added in 1961, electrolytic galvanising machines were added in 1958, 1962, and 1967, hot rolling capacity had increased to 1.6million tonnes per year by 1965. On 4 May 1965 KNHS took over company Breedband NV. Also in the post war period an automated casting machine was installed in 1948, and two new blast furnaces activated in 1958, and 1961, a mill for steel rod and wire production was commissioned in 1964. The sixth blast furnace began operation in 1967, and a second oxy-steel plant in 1968. In 1969 a block mill capable of handling 45t blocks, and another hot strip mill with a capacity of over 3.5 million tonnes pa were opened.

Labour relations at the plant were usually good; during the first two decades of the enterprises existence the organisational structure was relatively simple, with limited hierarchies, there were limited attempts at a benevolent social policy by the plant's management. Psychological testing of potential workers was gradually introduced, first for skilled workers, and after World War II for unskilled workers. Vocational training was slowly introduced after 1938. In the post war period foreign workers from Italy, Spain, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Morocco began to be employed at the plant; in the 1960s the practice of housing foreign workers in floating hotels was begun. Post war there was no major industrial action until 1973 when 2300 workers went on strike at the IJmuiden plant. During the Steel crisis there were no strikes, despite significant lay-offs.

In 1972 the first two blast furnaces were decommissioned. The same year (1972) the IJmuiden steelworks (Hoogovens IJmuiden BV.) were formed into a 50:50 joint venture named Estel with Hoesch of Germany as the other partner, who merged their Dortmund steel plant into the concern. IJmuiden with good access to seaborn raw materials was to act primarily as a raw steel supplier to the plant in Germany, which was closer to a large market for finished steel products - the steel crisis of the 1970s prevented any positive expansion and the company was disbanded in 1982 when funding arrangements for the loss making Dortmund plant could not be agreed.

After the de-merger from Hoesch the company required restructuring, and investment: the company was producing too much raw steel with not enough semi-finished product manufacturing capacity. This led to the installation of a continuous casting, hot rolling, and steel coating lines of the next decade. The Dutch state supported the process - with a loan of 570million guilders. The workforce was reduced by 3000 (14%) over 4 years from 1982, with the company becoming profitable again in 1984. The subsidiary Demka was also closed.

The company's first continuous caster was put into operation in May 1980. In 1990 a production line for producing paint coated steel rolls was started. The third blast furnace was decommissioned in 1991.

In the late 1990s two blast furnaces were purchased by the Indonesian steel group Gunawan Steel Group and dismantled and shipped to its development in Malaysia; Gunawan Iron and Steel. The dismantling work was carried out by a Chinese contractor which was found to be paying its 120 Chinese workers less than the Dutch minimum wage, with poor safety conditions, with 14 accidents resulting in 2 fatalities due to falls from height. The Chinese contractor was fined for breaches of safety practice, and made to improve working conditions, as well as retrospectively paying its workers 15,000 Guilders.

In 1996 the company changed its official name to Koninklijke Hoogovens. A new continuous caster was installed between 1998 and 2000.

In 1998 Hoogovens employed around 23000 people, and produced approximately 8 million tonnes of steel (and 450000tonnes of Aluminium) per year, with sales of over $10 billion. The company's main products were rolled steel, including tinplate (thin gauge steel), coated steels, and aluminium extrustions. Production was distributed 20% in the Dutch market, 60% in the rest of Europe and 20% to the rest of the world.

Corus group 1999-2007

In 1999, Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Steel to create Corus Group. In 2000 a hot dip galvanising line Galtec 2, with a capacity of 400000 tonnes per year of zinc coated coil began operation; it was the second to be produced as part of a joint venture with Sidmar. Plans for the construction of an (€223 million) additional hot dip galvanising line and cold rolling mill were made in 2005, for an expected completion in 2008.

Tata Steel 2007

In 2007 Tata Steel acquired Corus and subsequently renamed it Tata Steel Europe in 2010.

In 2008 due to lack of demand the Corus steel group cut production by 20%; in IJmuiden one blast furnace was taken out of production.