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The raw materials needed to run the ovens at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant will be delivered to the site today, the government confirmed.
Ministers were Match against time To secure the Coking coal and iron ore needed to keep the ovens at the UK’s last virgin steel producing plant.
If they cool down too much, solidify and block the melted iron the ovens, making it extremely difficult and expensive to restart it.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will visit the port in the nearby Immingham, as the supplies of two ships are dropped off and transported to the plant.
The Department of Affairs and Trade (DBT) said the material was provided by the US and would be enough to keep the ovens running for weeks, while a third ship with Coking Coal and Iron Ore was on the way from Australia to a legitimate dispute between British Steel and the Chinese owner of the site, Jingye, was resolved.
The future of the British steel plant at Scunthorpe hung in the balance after Jingye Decided to cancel future orders For the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to run the ovens at the beginning of April.
After talks with the owner broke, the government has left MPs that were away from Westminster for Easter sharing back to Parliament to pass an emergency bill Saturday to take over the facility.
The bill brought the steel works in effective government control, with the next step expected to be nationalization.
Mr. Reynolds said: “Thanks to the work of those in British Steel, and in my department we moved decisively to secure the raw materials we need to save British steel.
“Our industries are dependent on UK steel and – thanks to our plan for change – will raise the question: to help build 1.5 million homes, railways, schools and hospitals that we need to introduce a decade of national renewal.”
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Future of Scunthorpe ovens?
Jingye’s decision to cancel future orders from the raw materials needed to keep the ovens running led some questioned to question whether the company deliberately tried to close the ovens.
While Downing Street said it was not aware of ‘sabotage’ at the plant, he admitted that it became ‘clear’ that the Chinese owners wanted to close the ovens during conversations.
Mr. Reynolds said “it may not be sabotage, it could be neglect”, while Ms Rayner said there was “no evidence” of corporate sabotage.
However, the episode caused a debate on Chinese involvement in the British industries, with Mr. Reynolds who said on Sunday that he “would not bring a Chinese company to our steel sector”.
The Chinese company had an agreement five years ago to buy British Steel’s Scuntrorpe plant from insolvency.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy commented for the first time on Monday not to “politicize” the row by “linking it to security issues and to act with” fairness, impartiality and non-discrimination … to make sure that the legal rights and interests of the Chinese company are protected “.
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“It is an objective fact that British steel companies have generally experienced problems over the past few years,” he added.
Ministers in the UK experienced themselves as to why they had just acted on British Steel, given the fact that unions warned earlier this month that Jingye had decided to cancel future orders for the important raw materials.
The conservatives accused the government of acting “too late” and implementing a “baked nationalization” after ignoring warnings about the risk of the steel works.
Under the new legislation approved over the weekend, ministers now have the power to instruct British Steel to keep the plant open in scunthorpe, order material for steel manufacturing and instructing workers to be paid.
It also authorizes a prison sentence of up to two years for anyone who violates this law.
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