The announcement in 2011 that Tata Steel was to invest £185m in blast furnace number four at Port Talbot was hailed as a major vote of confidence in the future of steel making in South Wales. At the time, a senior Tata manager claimed investment would secure steelmaking for the next 100 years. This week, however, Port Talbot witnessed the last blast furnace being shut down and the ending of more than 100 years of traditional steel making at the UK’s largest plant. Nobody knew that this would happen after just half its production life.
There may still be many years of steel making left at Port Talbot, but it will now be done differently. The change has been dramatic and painful for those losing well-paid jobs. No steel will be made from scratch for at least the next five years. Slabs will be shipped from the Netherlands or India to be rolled and treated in Port Talbot before being sent to customers.
This week marked the end of an era for Port Talbot, but there are grounds for optimism. The Welsh steel industry has faced a stream of challenges, and existential questions for more than two decades.
“Steel is everything to Port Talbot. The entire town has been shaped around the needs of the steel industry. If that comes to an end, it raises much more fundamental questions over the future, and whether it can become a centre for green technology and green production in future,” said Swansea University history expert Prof Louise Miskell, from Port Talbot.
Port Talbot has good infrastructure which has all been built up around the steel industry. It is a well-connected place, having the big docks and a skilled population, and lots of reasons why investing in the future of Port Talbot would be a good decision.
This year, Tata claimed it was losing almost £2m a day. Tata has always defended its record on investment in Port Talbot. Earlier this year, Tata boss TV Narendran said the company had invested about £5bn over the last 15 years to keep the site going. He claimed it was time to switch off the blast furnaces and build an electric arc furnace if there was to be a future for steel in Port Talbot
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