Corus and the end of UK Steel

Why didnt people realise years back when BSC was privatised that the johny foreigners would take our ideas and build their own then close the UK plants.
The Indians,Koreans,Tiawanese and Chinese have been building steel works like mad for the past few years as well as aquiring others around the world. Now the likes of Tata are closing Teesside, already done similar in Spain,Belgium and US.
They have used the knowledge and ideas from the UK and built massive complexes in their own lands and no one saw it coming ? Surely someone in government saw this?
I had 2 years at Siemens supplying the likes of Tata, JSW and JSPL in India along with Donguk, Meishan and Bao Steel in China. The Chinese even set up a manufacturing plant to make a lot of the components so they dont have to bring it in from around the world.
Bad news for the likes of Siemens,Oldham Eng,Bradford Cylinders, Hystat and Vesuvius to name a few UK firms that will suffer even more in the near future.

Shocking the way things have gone down hill in the uk
we have nothing left

That is very true Nightmare. So many things that we used to have have gone abroad and we are left with no jobs anymore. It's ridiculous!!

we used to be able to keep our own house warm but now we rely on gas
if that runs out where fucked

Thats very true. Although we'll probably be dead before it happens, not trying to be morbid just realistic.

not if the Russans start pumping the price up, we could be in for some very could winters

I hope not. I'm cold enough as it is!!!!

ha ha ha get some meat down
we ship it in from denmark and new zealand
then the butcher who is probly polish cuts it in to a lump for ya
then stick it on the barbie that'll fatten you up and keep you warm

Thanks Nightmare but I've been on a diet as I had too much fat to begin with . I'm sure I'll be fine after Christmas, all that chocolate!!!

thornabyred wrote:Why didnt people realise years back when BSC was privatised that the johny foreigners would take our ideas and build their own then close the UK plants.
The Indians,Koreans,Tiawanese and Chinese have been building steel works like mad for the past few years as well as aquiring others around the world. Now the likes of Tata are closing Teesside, already done similar in Spain,Belgium and US.
They have used the knowledge and ideas from the UK and built massive complexes in their own lands and no one saw it coming ? Surely someone in government saw this?
I had 2 years at Siemens supplying the likes of Tata, JSW and JSPL in India along with Donguk, Meishan and Bao Steel in China. The Chinese even set up a manufacturing plant to make a lot of the components so they dont have to bring it in from around the world.
Bad news for the likes of Siemens,Oldham Eng,Bradford Cylinders, Hystat and Vesuvius to name a few UK firms that will suffer even more in the near future.

As i work for that company i have some understandings on what is happening in the industry, upto a couple of months ago there was a strong possibility that Teeside was going to be saved, that unfortunatly has not happened, Vesuvius only has one main site in the UK now which is in Chesterfield there is a site in Tamworth but that is a recent aquasition from a Buyout of Foseco so not sure how long that has got, when i started working for what was then Flogates in 1990 we had sites all over the country, in places like Goole Worksop Chesterfield Newmilns Kingscliffe Bawtry to name but a few, they have all gone now apart from us at chesterfield, how long we have who knows the word is that while there are plants in the UK we will survive, having said that most of the materials we make go out to foreign markets and we have been busier this year then i can ever remember, overtime has been going through the roof and we are now going on 3 shifts to meet the demand, its a strange world and i am under no illusions that we are probably on borrowed time, all i do know is we have won a new contract that will see us through all of next year.

dear me how shite are diets

They are shocking but never mind. It's something women will be doing for years to come!!!

Am so glad that you are safe at the moment Yorkie. It must be quite scary not knowing what's happening though.

Terrier2009 wrote:

Am so glad that you are safe at the moment Yorkie. It must be quite scary not knowing what's happening though.

What's scary is the lack of support from the Government for the people who are losing there jobs

Yorkie, did a job last year for a site in Gary, USA through Chesterfield only to find out that it was made in Mexico and trucked up to Gary.
Glad you are still busy, they do have a good name in the trade even though they are not cheapest.
Last 2 sites I did for relines in France and Port Talbot were actually ordered from India and came from there. Big job for Taiwan came from India(tata owned) and was late, wrong and everything else you could think .
Never had a problem with Vesuvius even with stuff from Poland which was about 3 weeks late but caught up on the shipping process.

Yeah. I think the government needs to take a long hard look at the number of people losing their jobs and sort something out rather than just complaining about the amount they pay out in benefits. It would also be useful if they sorted something out for the graduates as well. They spend loads of money trying to get people to go to university and then they just say tough when the graduates can't get a job, what a blooming joke!!!!

thornabyred wrote:Yorkie, did a job last year for a site in Gary, USA through Chesterfield only to find out that it was made in Mexico and trucked up to Gary.
Glad you are still busy, they do have a good name in the trade even though they are not cheapest.
Last 2 sites I did for relines in France and Port Talbot were actually ordered from India and came from there. Big job for Taiwan came from India(tata owned) and was late, wrong and everything else you could think .
Never had a problem with Vesuvius even with stuff from Poland which was about 3 weeks late but caught up on the shipping process.

Vesuvius have expanded in India and China big time, they have however closed quite a few sites throughout the world this year, i can't explain why we have escaped it i'm just glad we have, we do have a good name in the industry as you say, i know we are not the cheapest but on a cost per tonne basis we come out quite well, we have just won a huge contract to supply a new plant they are building in Dubai or somewhere in that part of the world, we seem to do well becauce of the onsite support we offer.

Terrier2009 wrote:Yeah. I think the government needs to take a long hard look at the number of people losing their jobs and sort something out rather than just complaining about the amount they pay out in benefits. It would also be useful if they sorted something out for the graduates as well. They spend loads of money trying to get people to go to university and then they just say tough when the graduates can't get a job, what a blooming joke!!!!

Then I get to sign them on at the Job Centre.

Yeah, it's just frustrating as I'm hopefully graduating in the summer and I couldn't even find a job in the summer so I'm dreading trying to find a job then. I'm not even bothering to look atm as I have loads of uni work anyway but over the summer it was an absolute nightmare trying to find anything especially that didn't want experience of some sort.

I Honestly think Education will be the next thing to go tits up in this country, the only reason the Government want people to go to university is to keep the unemployment figures down, people are doing pointless degrees like Media studies, but i would like to know who they are going to work for.

Tell me about it. 2 of my school friends have gone to do a media degree. I'm in a similar situation though as I'm doing Sociology and I'm probably going to have to do a masters or something anyway.

NIGHTMARE wrote:Shocking the way things have gone down hill in the uk
we have nothing left

Never a truer word said, that's just why we are struggling to get out of this recession after every other country in Europe. We don't have any manufacturing base anymore.

That's very true Hoola. Everyone seems to want to take it elsewhere as it's cheaper. It'll be a while before we recover yet I think.

People on about the recession ending, today was one of our busiest days for ages at the JCP.First 6 call I had today from people laid off over the last couple of days.They are all at smaller firms so nobody hears about them.

Terrier2009 wrote:That's very true Hoola. Everyone seems to want to take it elsewhere as it's cheaper. It'll be a while before we recover yet I think.

Basically Corus had been keeping it going by taking orders out of PortTalbot Scunny etc in the hope that the interested party who were interested in taking it over would do just that, alas they did not, while ever the order book was full it was profitable , unfortunatly it wasn't, the Largest Blast Furnace in europe as well , 67 of our people have just been told they are to lose there jobs, its a dying industry in the Uk i'm afraid just like the Mines , Ship Building and everything else that once made this county great.

I feel sorry for all those people. You are right though, everything that made this country has been taken away now. Who knows what we keep it going?