Tata Steel announced on 19 January 2024 that it will begin statutory consultation on restructuring its UK business, a plan that would close the two blast furnaces at its Port Talbot steelworks in Wales and cut up to 2,800 jobs. The first blast furnace and the coke ovens would close around mid-2024, with the remaining heavy-end assets winding down during the second half of the year. Around 2,500 roles would be affected within 18 months. The company plans to replace the furnaces with an electric arc furnace under a 1.25 billion pound investment, backed by up to 500 million pounds of UK government support, and has committed more than 130 million pounds to a support package for affected workers. Tata said the move was needed to reverse more than a decade of losses at its UK operations, where the Port Talbot site was losing about 1 million pounds a day. The hot strip mill would keep running throughout the transition.
Source: Energy Live News — https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/01/19/tata-steel-confirms-closure-of-two-blast-furnaces-at-port-talbot/
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