The end of steel making on Teesside?

[Hobbit]

During last Sunday's round of golf we heard the pressure being vented from the top of the blast furnace, and we were approx 6 miles away as the crow flies. The dying, banshee howl of an industry in its final death throes? An eery, sad sound to anyone who knows what it means to be a Smoogie. The same sound was heard in Dec 2009, when Tata steel also closed the plant before SSI bought 13 months later - but more on that later.

A little bit of history about steelmaking on Teesside, and industry in general in this small part of the northeast. British Steel Teesside didn't just produce large ingots of steel. There was the beam mill, the wire mill, special profiles mill, the plate mill. If you wanted a particular product, you could get the raw steel from Teesside.

When I started work for BT in the mid 70's there were 33,000 employed making steel on Teesside, a further 30,000 employed by ICI and then there were the ship yards on the Tees, where the UK's first container ship was built, i.e. they weren't small yards. And then there's all the supporting service industries reliant on business with British Steel, ICI and the like.

ICI started selling out first, becoming a landlord to a number of manufacturers from around the world. In the main the order book was bought and many of the plants were run down. But steel making continued to evolve, never more so evidenced than with the building of the new furnace at Redcar. In the 80's the yards were sold off to the likes of Camal Lairds and Swan Hunter, and again the order books were moved to other ship building yards. And then British Steel was sold off to Corus, and steelmaking was in decline.

In the noughties Tata Steel bought steel making from Corus, and real fears started to surface. The specialised plants survived but the furnace was shutdown and the orders taken to India. During the year and a bit Tata had the furnace shutdown they received £660 million from the EU for reducing its carbon footprint. They also received a large grant/incentive to build a new furnace in Holland. And they sold the blast furnace at Redcar to SSI - now there's a very dodgy deal, and one which hamstrung SSI from the outset.

Fast forward to this year and we hear stories of cheap steel coming out of China, but no mention of Tata steels sales from Holland and India, which were equally to 'blame.' Wouldn't want to upset them or they might just take whats left away.... but now there's no local supplier of steel I wonder what they'll do?

From an employment level of almost 100k workers in those industries on Teesside there's now less than 10,000 employed. And whilst the UK population has continued to grow in the last decade, by almost 10 million, the population on Teesside has continued to drop as more and more people "got on their bike" to find work. And a walk down Redcar High St, down Linthorpe Rd in Middlesbrough or Stockton High St gives a vivid, and painful picture of how much the area has suffered in the last xx years. Countless charity shops, Poundstretchers and Cash Converters along with the more traditional Pawn shops abound.

Will Teesside recover, modernise and find a new identity? No it won't. I could take you around some of the old areas on Teesside that have been suffering for a generation, and where 95% of a street/area is unemployed... that's right 95%! And now there are another 3,000 chasing even less jobs.

C'mon Boro!

 

[teetime75]

Good post thanks, but makes very sad reading.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Very sad, couple of mates and their families now very worried what the future holds.
To give an example of how succesful the Midllesbrough Steel industry was, the firm that built the Sydney Harbour Bridge was from there, the steel is used in no end of famous buildings around the world.
Very sad time.

 

[Tashyboy]

Hobbit excellent post, when I read it you could of swopped British steel for British Coal. The demise of another great industry.
Unfortunately through the experience of what happened in the coal industry, as much as people tut tutted, the bottom line was "no one was really bothered". About jobs and communities that have struggled to recover.
gutted for them all.

 

[upsidedown]

Was sorry to hear the news the other day. Have family on Teeside and although none of them are going to be directly affected by this it's the knock on on effect.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

A lot of those people are going to be "thrown on the scrap heap" if you pardon my pun. They'll become another number added to the unemployment figure that's it.

That area needs major investment but I'm sure this government will have bigger fish to fry.

Very sad.

 

[Tashyboy]

Was sorry to hear the news the other day. Have family on Teeside and although none of them are going to be directly affected by this it's the knock on on effect.

It is, unfortunately, as happened in the mining industry people talked about the miners that lost there jobs. Nobody talked about the companies that supported the mining industry and the men and women who became unemployed.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Sad news, Bri.

One of my favourite songs by Chris Rea is "It's all gone", says it all:-

"It's All Gone"

A careless heart ain't no good to no-one
I was going back my friends to see
Of what became of my childhood daydreams
Of all the things that used to be
To my surprise I stood alone
I walked a river of a waking dream
My father say 'Know what you're thinking'
I guess this old town seen better days

It's all gone
Ain't nothing for you here now
Sail on

You talk of change, something better
Cutting down that big old tree
There's flesh and blood in there somewhere
But no matter what you just don't seem to see
I walk your chambers, your empty halls
I see you talking behind the doors
My father say 'Know what you're thinking'
I guess this old town seen better days

It's all gone
Ain't nothing for you here now
Sail on

I'm sailing on, I'm running faster
Than I ever run before
My father say 'Know what you're thinking'
I guess this old town seen better days
Sail on​

A few of his other songs hit the nail on the head also, such as "Road to Hell" and "looking for a rainbow".

Capitalism doesnt give us all the answers, and why should we have to be economic migrants and move to the south.

There is London, there is the south and then after that doesnt matter so much. The tories are finally realising that there is a land in the north and they are trying to address it with the "Northern powerhouse", but it is 30 years too late, and will take 50 years to create.

 

[williamalex1]

Same thing happened to the massive Ravenscraig steelworks in Motherwell . We in the UK no longer produce / manufacture steel, or anything major anymore.

Sad days.

 

[Fromtherough]

During last Sunday's round of golf we heard the pressure being vented from the top of the blast furnace, and we were approx 6 miles away as the crow flies. The dying, banshee howl of an industry in its final death throes? An eery, sad sound to anyone who knows what it means to be a Smoogie. The same sound was heard in Dec 2009, when Tata steel also closed the plant before SSI bought 13 months later - but more on that later.

A little bit of history about steelmaking on Teesside, and industry in general in this small part of the northeast. British Steel Teesside didn't just produce large ingots of steel. There was the beam mill, the wire mill, special profiles mill, the plate mill. If you wanted a particular product, you could get the raw steel from Teesside.

When I started work for BT in the mid 70's there were 33,000 employed making steel on Teesside, a further 30,000 employed by ICI and then there were the ship yards on the Tees, where the UK's first container ship was built, i.e. they weren't small yards. And then there's all the supporting service industries reliant on business with British Steel, ICI and the like.

ICI started selling out first, becoming a landlord to a number of manufacturers from around the world. In the main the order book was bought and many of the plants were run down. But steel making continued to evolve, never more so evidenced than with the building of the new furnace at Redcar. In the 80's the yards were sold off to the likes of Camal Lairds and Swan Hunter, and again the order books were moved to other ship building yards. And then British Steel was sold off to Corus, and steelmaking was in decline.

In the noughties Tata Steel bought steel making from Corus, and real fears started to surface. The specialised plants survived but the furnace was shutdown and the orders taken to India. During the year and a bit Tata had the furnace shutdown they received £660 million from the EU for reducing its carbon footprint. They also received a large grant/incentive to build a new furnace in Holland. And they sold the blast furnace at Redcar to SSI - now there's a very dodgy deal, and one which hamstrung SSI from the outset.

Fast forward to this year and we hear stories of cheap steel coming out of China, but no mention of Tata steels sales from Holland and India, which were equally to 'blame.' Wouldn't want to upset them or they might just take whats left away.... but now there's no local supplier of steel I wonder what they'll do?

From an employment level of almost 100k workers in those industries on Teesside there's now less than 10,000 employed. And whilst the UK population has continued to grow in the last decade, by almost 10 million, the population on Teesside has continued to drop as more and more people "got on their bike" to find work. And a walk down Redcar High St, down Linthorpe Rd in Middlesbrough or Stockton High St gives a vivid, and painful picture of how much the area has suffered in the last xx years. Countless charity shops, Poundstretchers and Cash Converters along with the more traditional Pawn shops abound.

Will Teesside recover, modernise and find a new identity? No it won't. I could take you around some of the old areas on Teesside that have been suffering for a generation, and where 95% of a street/area is unemployed... that's right 95%! And now there are another 3,000 chasing even less jobs.

C'mon Boro!

Great post. Sad sad times for the area. Thoughts go out for everyone directly affected. The ripples from this will impact the local economy greatly. Everyone from Teesside have ties in some form or other to either British Steel, ICI or the Shipyards and their decline has correlated with the decline in certain local communities which is a massive shame. The people of Teesside remain, in my biased view, amongst the nicest, friendliest, jovial lot many of whom would give you their last penny if you needed it. They just deserve more from the government (and not just the current incumbents). The laughable thing is my local MP is James Wharton. He's meant to be the Northern Powerhouse minister. Says it all.

 

[Tashyboy]

Sad news, Bri.

One of my favourite songs by Chris Rea is "It's all gone", says it all:-

"It's All Gone"

A careless heart ain't no good to no-one
I was going back my friends to see
Of what became of my childhood daydreams
Of all the things that used to be
To my surprise I stood alone
I walked a river of a waking dream
My father say 'Know what you're thinking'
I guess this old town seen better days

It's all gone
Ain't nothing for you here now
Sail on

You talk of change, something better
Cutting down that big old tree
There's flesh and blood in there somewhere
But no matter what you just don't seem to see
I walk your chambers, your empty halls
I see you talking behind the doors
My father say 'Know what you're thinking'
I guess this old town seen better days

It's all gone
Ain't nothing for you here now
Sail on

I'm sailing on, I'm running faster
Than I ever run before
My father say 'Know what you're thinking'
I guess this old town seen better days
Sail on​

A few of his other songs hit the nail on the head also, such as "Road to Hell" and "looking for a rainbow".

Capitalism doesnt give us all the answers, and why should we have to be economic migrants and move to the south.

There is London, there is the south and then after that doesnt matter so much. The tories are finally realising that there is a land in the north and they are trying to address it with the "Northern powerhouse", but it is 30 years too late, and will take 50 years to create.

"Tell me there a heaven" what words, what a song fills me up.

 

[Hobbit]

Great post. Sad sad times for the area. Thoughts go out for everyone directly affected. The ripples from this will impact the local economy greatly. Everyone from Teesside have ties in some form or other to either British Steel, ICI or the Shipyards and their decline has correlated with the decline in certain local communities which is a massive shame. The people of Teesside remain, in my biased view, amongst the nicest, friendliest, jovial lot many of whom would give you their last penny if you needed it. They just deserve more from the government (and not just the current incumbents). The laughable thing is my local MP is James Wharton. He's meant to be the Northern Powerhouse minister. Says it all.

James Wharton, MP for Stockton, says they've been working with SSI all through the summer. But Anna Sorbry, the business minister, says they were only called in to help last week, "way too late."

The Govt can break EU rules, get a special exemption, to bail out the banks but...

 

[6inchcup]

James Wharton, MP for Stockton, says they've been working with SSI all through the summer. But Anna Sorbry, the business minister, says they were only called in to help last week, "way too late."

The Govt can break EU rules, get a special exemption, to bail out the banks but...

what good would bailing this business out do in the long term,CHINA can produce steel far cheaper and in more volume,they have flooded the market with steel at practically cost price and could do so indefinitely.I live in an old pit town and remember well the pits closing and the big payouts given to the workers,the local car dealers did a roaring trade,council houses got bought and the family holiday to BENIDORM took care of the money,some were offerd training but most signed on the long term sick and live on benefits blaming THATCHER for their lack of employment,times have changed and this country costs to much to produce goods,its a sad sign of the times,we buy cheap good and food as if the norm,but forget all the jobs lost in this country due to cheap sweat shop labour that's made it,go a month only buying products made in this country and see the difference.

 

[Liverbirdie]

what good would bailing this business out do in the long term,CHINA can produce steel far cheaper and in more volume,they have flooded the market with steel at practically cost price and could do so indefinitely.I live in an old pit town and remember well the pits closing and the big payouts given to the workers,the local car dealers did a roaring trade,council houses got bought and the family holiday to BENIDORM took care of the money,some were offerd training but most signed on the long term sick and live on benefits blaming THATCHER for their lack of employment,times have changed and this country costs to much to produce goods,its a sad sign of the times,we buy cheap good and food as if the norm,but forget all the jobs lost in this country due to cheap sweat shop labour that's made it,go a month only buying products made in this country and see the difference.

Or do what Germany does and support/keep afloat struggling manufacturing companies by bailing them out to a degree, but at least keeping people off the dole.

 

[c1973]

Same thing happened to the massive Ravenscraig steelworks in Motherwell . We in the UK no longer produce / manufacture steel, or anything major anymore.

Sad days.

I was going to post the same.

Nothing there now except for a few new build housing schemes.

 

[drdel]

As long as China is allowed to set its own exchange rate at whatever it like and the West accept it then we need to face up to the fact that China will dump over production. It sent steel form a Redcar viable £350 per tonne down by half.

Now all those laid off and in the surrounding businesses will need to be paid by very other tax payer - when will we realise that although the EU rules say governments cannot support and subsidise businesses that only works if everyone plays to the same rules, Not a chance!

We seem just to stupid to stand up for ourselves.

 

[Hobbit]

As long as China is allowed to set its own exchange rate at whatever it like and the West accept it then we need to face up to the fact that China will dump over production. It sent steel form a Redcar viable £350 per tonne down by half.

Now all those laid off and in the surrounding businesses will need to be paid by very other tax payer - when will we realise that although the EU rules say governments cannot support and subsidise businesses that only works if everyone plays to the same rules, Not a chance!

We seem just to stupid to stand up for ourselves.

I agree with having the same rules within a trading block, in the EU, but not when trading with countries like China.

 

[williamalex1]

The problem is these countries will eventually increase their prices , and we'll be [infraction word] begins with F .

We have sacrificed most of our manufacturing industries for short term gain.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The problem is these countries will eventually increase their prices , and we'll be [infraction word] begins with F .

We have sacrificed most of our manufacturing industries for short term gain.

I agree but can't see it changing and I doubt we'll ever be a manufacturing nation of note again

 

[williamalex1]

I agree but can't see it changing and I doubt we'll ever be a manufacturing nation of note again

Almost the flower of Scotland Homer.