IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY

The Iron Age began at around 1500 BC.  Iron started at a very moderate rate with many products. Slowly the importance was realised and it became a very necessary product. Whole empires and civilization were forged by iron tools. Not to forget iron weapons.

Then in the 20^th century the industrial revolution began which couldn’t have happened if there were no iron and steel which is a product made from iron. Railways, ships and factories would not exist without iron and steel.

However, in the last two decades there was another great revolution but nobody noticed it because everybody was so busy trying to keep up with it. It was the Information Age which means plastics and electronics. The two materials gave great pressure to the iron and steel industries.

 A Global Industry

                   

In spite of these new materials which are cheaper, especially plastics, the demand for iron and steel still continued. Australia and Brazil are producing millions of tonnes of iron ore. It is then shipped to any country around the world. The steel-making plants will then produce the necessary product.  Large steel-making plants emerged all over the world because after the World War 2 the shipping costs were very low. Before the war steel mills were situated near the raw material such as iron ore, coking coal and limestone.

In order to produce steel the plant has to reduce the carbon content in the iron to at specific level. Anything between 0.05 per cent and 1.5 per cent, it depends on the type of steel. The steel is usual produced into bars, slabs, wire, sheets or rods. It will then be shipped by rail, road or sea. Most of the manufacturers have a demand of steel.               

However, the biggest demand comes from shipbuilding, machinery, construction and vehicle manufacturing.

The energy crisis at the beginning of the ‘70s brought the steel industry into great difficulties till such time the demand and profit used to rise steadily. With the crisis the demand fell and so did the profit.  The owners had to face the fact, in order to stay compatible, they have to invest huge amounts of money to modernise the plants. This created a backlash in so far that workers had to be laid off and this again reduced the spending power which reflected in the economy.

During the recession in 1989-92 the steel industries had to re-construct it again. This was done two ways. Either vertical integration which means the steel industries buys out all the distribution companies which market the steel. This would bring the profit of the distributors to the manufacturer.

The second way of re-construction was to specialise of a particular product instead of a wide variety. During this process the British Steel became a world wide name for structural steels used in the building trade.

Mannesmann in Germany specialised in tube making and Sacilor of France produced stainless steel.

These changes resulted into the US and European steel industries to be most competitive.

New Competition

To start off a steel industry the cost are huge amount of money, skilled labour, sophisticated management, good infrastructure and communication. It was difficult for any country to take on such an enormous new undertaking. However, since the World War 2 few countries started and succeeded. There were Japan which is now one of the top steel producers, South Korea rose to the 6^th place and Taiwan was on the 17^th.They also expanded to neighbouring countries like the Philippines and Malaysia.

Turkey, China and India followed in their footsteps and achieved higher productions then South America. Brazil has a great advantage because it produces its own iron ore.

The least competition came from Eastern Europe and the former USSR. After the collapse and with that state support, they used the old open-hearth process instead of the basic oxygen or electric-arc furnaces like the West. Eastern Europe continued to use the traditional casting of raw steel into ingots. The West used a more efficient casting process. 

In 1995 countries like the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary started to improve their production and their profit increased. In Russia and the Ukraine the production is falling but slowly.

A small Revolution

It started when quite a number of mini steel mills were built which altogether had an impact.

A mini mill is an electric-arc furnace mill. They usual make steel from scrap. Mini mill have a turn out of half a million tone a year. Mini mills encouraged the scrap metal dealer to sell to the steel industry.  It is estimated around 10 million tonnes of scrap are collected in Britain every year. France, Germany and The Netherlands are major contributors of scrap metal in Europe. They export a great amount to countries like Spain, Turkey, India and the Far East.

The other type of mill is called an integrated mill. It produces steel by using a basic oxygen process and iron ore, coke and limestone. Integrated mills will produce 10 to 20 tonnes a year.

Another Option

The other alternative to steel is new materials such composites, plastics and glass fibre. They are cheaper and sometimes even better quality.

1990 General Motors’ started to use mainly plastic and fitted thermoplastic body panels to the steel frame. 

The Shell Oil manufactured a North Sea oil rig from plastic.

In order to counteract these new developments the steel industry produced coated steel which prevents rust. The coat is made of zinc and plastic. This new material is used in car manufacturing and architectures.

VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY -- TWO

REPLICA OF MAGELLAN'S SHIP
VICTORIA

Of course, there had been many more adventurers and explorer. They dared to set out into the unknown with no knowledge of the whole world and very small ships.  To face the incredible powers of ferocious storms they must have been very brave men. Plus the dreadful conditions on the small, rat-infested ships. What must they have endured to us the knowledge of the world so early in history?

VASCO DA GAMA

Since Diaz found a route round the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Indian Ocean; King Emanuel I of Portugal sent Vasco da Gama in 1497 to try and find a trade route to India. With three small ships da Gama set out but did not sail along the coastline. He sailed out into the Atlantic Ocean and reach a small island St Helena. From there he used the strong westerly winds to get round the Cape.  He stopped a number of times at the east coast of Africa. In Malindi he met an Arab navigator who showed him the way across the Indian Ocean.

They landed at the famous spice port of Calicut on the Malabar coast. The Indian refused to trade because they didn’t want to lose the Arab traders. He came back with the ships loaded with spices but did not achieve a trade agreement.

Vasco da Gama returned to the East in 1502 with 20 well armed ships. He bombarded Calicut and forced the Indians into a trade agreement. On his way there he established a colony at Mozambique. He returned to Portugal in triumph.

In 1524 Vasco da Gama went back to India as Portuguese viceroy.  After his arrival he soon died. The colony Goa remained in Portuguese’s hands until 1961.

FERDINAND MAGELLAN

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese nobleman and was born in 1480.  However, it was Charles I of Spain who sponsored him to sail round the world.

He sailed in 1519 with five ships from Spain and took a route south-westwards.  On his voyage he discovered the Magellan Strait. The strait is between the South America’s mainland and the island of Tierra del Fuego and leads straight into the Pacific.  The route into the Pacific round the Cape Horn was only discovered in 1616. Magellan was surprised by the calm ‘new’ ocean and therefore named it Pacific, meaning peaceful.

From there they sailed north-westwards and arrived in the Philippines. Magellan was killed there in 1521 during a fight with the local inhabitants.  However, the expedition set sail again and went to Moluccas which the Portuguese had already reached in 1512, by the south-eastern route.  This voyage proved the world was round and Magellan’s sailors successfully went round it.  However, they had to pay a high price.  Of the five ships and 268 men only one ship and 35 men arrived back.

JOHN CABOT

John Cabot was an Italian navigator. He was born in 1450 but loved to England.  Henry II sent him to discover new lands and a new route to the spice islands. Since the Spanish and Portuguese controlled the southern route to Asia, Cabot searched for a northern route. In June 1497 he landed at Cape Breton Island (Newfoundland). He was the first European explorer to discover North America. Cabot thought he landed in North East Asia. The voyage took him to Greenland and he died there in 1498.

PLANTATION AND PIRACY

TEA  PLANTATION

It was not a strange coincidence that as the plantations developed and the shipping increased it piracy also grew.

Right through, from the earliest centuries, where there were ships, there were pirates.

Even Julius Caesar was captured in 78 BC and held for ransom. However, once released the pirates lived to regret it.

The Vikings were notorious for raiding the settlements along the shores of England and Ireland from 834 till 930 BC.

Corsar, a Mediterranean pirate captured Christians and sold them as slaves in North America.

Drake Hawkins and Walter Raleigh were encouraged by Queen Elizabeth I to pirate the Spanish Ships and bring her the treasures.

COTTON PLANTATION 
AT THE BEGINNING 
OF THE 20TH CENTURY

PIRACY  FLAG OR 
JUST A BLACK FLAG

Piracy was at its height from 1500 till 1750.  Merchant ships laden with treasures plied the seas without protection. When the navy grew bigger, they could protect the ships and piracy was declining.

After they discovered America and a route to India, the trade really began to increase by the 100-fold. That also encouraged the pirates. Ships went from Europe to Africa and America. Or from Europe to Africa and the East. They carried tea, coffee, spices, sugar, tobacco and slaves.

Indian and Arab pirates operated once in the Indian Ocean only. After the European discovered the route round the Cape of Good Hope pirates came from every nation to get their hands on those merchant ships.

From the islands on the east coast of Africa, especially Madagascar, the goods were silk. jewels, ivory and spices. The pirates took the lot plus clothing, food and tools.

Drake and his sailors used to pirate the Spanish merchants ships coming from the Spanish Main loaded with treasures. The mass islands were a paradise for pirates' ships with their deep harbours and secluded inlets for hiding out.

Treasure ships were less in the 16th century and those few were heavily guarded. The merchant shipping increased because of the New World which was being colonized rapidly.

The settlers in the Spanish West Indies, the English colonies in Virginia and Georgia and the Portuguese and Dutch colonies in South America were planters and grew rich on growing sugar and tobacco for the European market.

Tea and coffee became fashionable and demand of sugar grew. Tobacco were smoked or chewed by many people.

Plantations multiplied and so did the demand for people to work on it. The Caribs and Native Americans had been either killed off or died of diseases brought over by Europeans for which they had no resistance. Therefore, slaves were brought over from Africa and sold to planters.

With that a triangular was slowly established and proved to be very lucrative. The ships took manufactured goods to West Africa and exchanged them for human cargo. They were shipped in appalling conditions to the Caribbeans and colonies in North and South America to be sold. From that money they bought sugar and tobacco to be taken to Europe.

The trade companies tried to reduce cost and increase profits. They shipped the goods in undermanned and under gunned ships which were an easy target for pirates. National government directly or indirectly encouraged piracy. To 'unload' an enemies' ship when you are at war with the country was thought of as patriotic act.

Another reason for becoming a pirate was that in the national navies the conditions were appalling and low pay. They turned into pirates because they would get rich on the loot although the conditions weren't any different.

There were three types of sea villains operating:

PIRATES who were sea-going thieves.

PRIVATEERS who were licensed by government or shipping companies but just the same sea-going thieves.

BUCCANEERS who belonged to a band of sea-going thieves.

Many of those people have been settlers but after being dispossessed by the Spaniards turned to be sea-going thieves to survive.

The status of one of those three types was important. Piracy was punishable by death or branding. However, if you did it for someone else, you could get away with it or even got a reward from some king.

The pirates of the Caribbean or elsewhere did not died out. Owners of luxury yacht are given guns to protect themselves. These pirates are now after luxury goods which are easily to carry.

Pirates also operate in the South China Sea and have high-speed motor vessels. Kidnapping and demand for ransom is mostly their businesses and rapidly increasing.

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