{{short description|Belgian steelworks situated in Ghent near Zelzate, Flanders}} {{redirect|Sidmar|the Brazilian footballer|Sidmar (footballer)}} {{coord|display=title|51.172052|3.80157|type:landmark}} {{Infobox company | name = ArcelorMittal Ghent | logo = ArcelorMittal.svg | former_name = Sidmar (1960–2006)<br>Arcelor Ghent (2006–2008) | type = | genre = | fate = | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = | founder = 1962 | defunct = | location_city = Ghent | location_country = Belgium | location = | locations = | area_served = | key_people = | industry = Steel | products = Flat steel | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = [[ArcelorMittal]] | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = | footnotes = | intl = }} '''ArcelorMittal Ghent''' is a Belgian steelworks situated in [[Ghent]] near [[Zelzate]], [[Flanders]]. It was founded in 1962 by [[ARBED]] as '''Sidmar'''; the first maritime steel producer in Belgium.
==History==
===Background=== Traditionally the steelworks of Belgium had been concentrated in the southern half of the country, in [[Wallonia]], close to the historic coal mining areas at the edge of the [[Rhenish Massif]]; which in part defined the area that came to be known as the [[Sillon industriel]], including [[Liège Province]] and [[Hainaut Province]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://popups.ulg.ac.be/federalisme/document.php?id=298|title=Caractéristiques des bassins industriels dans l’Eurégio Meuse-Rhin|first=Suzanne|last=Pasleau|journal=Fédéralisme Régionalisme|volume=3|year=2002–2003|language=French|access-date=2010-09-07|archive-date=2011-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706132958/http://popups.ulg.ac.be/federalisme/document.php?id=298|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In the 1920s the Luxembourg-based steel company [[ARBED]] began buying land next to the [[Ghent–Terneuzen Canal]], by 1932 the company had acquired {{convert|211|ha|km2|abbr=on}}. Economic depression in the 1930s, the second world war and its aftermath prevented plans for a new steel plant;.<ref name="arc">{{cite web|url=http://www.arcelormittal.com/gent/prg/selfware.pl?id_sitemap=29&language=EN|title=ArcelorMittal Gent : The history of ArcelorMittal Gent in a nutshell|work=www.arcelormittal.com|access-date=2010-09-07|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130117020805/http://www.arcelormittal.com/gent/prg/selfware.pl?id_sitemap=29&language=EN|archive-date=2013-01-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> however by the 1950s the economic conditions had become favourable again, and the company began exploring the possibility of a plants' construction.<ref name="ans">{{cite web|title=Arcelor Gent|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/arcelor-gent-2|work=International Directory of Company Histories|first=M.L.|last = Cohen| publisher = Gale|volume = 80| year = 2006}}</ref>
At the beginning of the 1960s preliminary work began towards the construction of a new plant; the canal was to be dredged to enable [[Panamax]] size ships to use the canal, Arbed's land holding increased to {{convert|211|ha|km2|abbr=on}}, and on 27 April 1962 the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] approved the plants construction.<ref name="arc"/> The company '''''Siderurgie Maritime NV''''' (Sidmar) was formed on 10 July 1962,<ref name="arc"/> with a capital of 4.5billion [[Belgian franc]], of which 2bn came from Arbed, as well as 1bn from [[Cockerill-Sambre]].{{sfn|Capron|1987|p=693}} [[Schneider group|Schneider]], the [[Société Générale de Belgique]], ''Compagnie Belge de Participations'' (COBEPA) and ''Compagnie Financière et Industrielle'' (COFININDUS) also backed the scheme, and loans were got from state banks.{{sfn|Mommen|1994|p=137}}
Amongst the steelworkers of the Walloon region the development was not so well received; in May 1960 union leader André Renaud declared it to be: <blockquote>La guillotine de la Wallonie.{{sfn|Leboutte|2008|p=462}}</blockquote>
===Sidmar=== Construction began in 1964, with a cold rolling mill completed in March 1966, and a hot rolling operational by the end of that year, the first blast furnace in 1967 and a second in 1968. Expansion continued in the early 1970s with a coking factory and second cold rolling mill.<ref name="ans"/>
The [[1973–75 recession]] caused a [[Steel crisis|crisis in the global steel market]] in the mid-1970s. Though the company fared better than the southern Belgian steel producers,{{sfn|Capron|1987|p=775}} investors other than Arbed disposed of their shares; Cockerill sold its 21.9 share to Arbed in 1975 due to its own financial problems, giving Arbed, which had previously increased its holding to 62.2% by 1973 a large majority shareholding of over 80%.{{sfn|Capron|1987|p=695}}
By the beginning of the 1980s some re-investment and expansion started again; a continuous rolling mill in 1981, as well as acquiring stakes in [[ALZ (steelworks)|ALZ]], and [[Klöckner Stahl]]. In 1989 Sidmar's steel capacity represented 30% of total Belgian steel production.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5EuYf028VR0C|title=The Structure of European industry|first=H. W.|last= de Jong|publisher=Springer|year=1993|page=73}}</ref> In 1994 Sidmar acquired majority share ownership of Stahlwerke Bremen (formerly Klöckner Stahl) from [[Klöckner]].<ref>{{citation|publisher = U.S. Geological Survey |url =https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/1994/9406094.pdf | title = The Mineral Industry of Belgium and Luxembourg| year = 1994|pages = 86–7 }}</ref>
Further investment in the 1990s and 2000s gave the plant [[galvanise|galvanising]] facilities (through a joint venture ''Galtec'' with Dutch steelmaker [[Hoogovens]] opened 1998,<ref>{{citation| url =https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/1998/9429098.pdf| title = The Mineral Industry of the Netherlands (1998)| first = Harold R.|last = Newman| work = minerals.usgs.gov|quote =Galtec-2 will be built at Hoogovens’ Ijmuiden steelworks .. Galtec was a 50-50 joint venture between Hoogovens and Sidmar. Hoogovens and Sidmar inaugurated Galtec-1 at Sidmar’s steelworks near Ghent, Belgium, in mid-1998. That line had a capacity of 400,000 t/yr. When Galtec-2 is in full production, the two companies will exchange their share holdings, leaving Hoogovens owning the Ijmuiden galvanizing line and Sidmar owning the Ghent galvanizing line}}</ref> and renamed ''Sidgal'' in 2002, followed by two more lines ''Sidgal 2'' and ''Sidgal 3'' in 2000.<ref>Sources: *{{citation| url = http://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/1446387/Sidmar-strives-to-satisfy-galvanizingdemand.html| title = Sidmar strives to satisfy galvanizing demand| first = Richard|last= Barrett| date = 4 December 2000|work = www.metalbulletin.com}} *{{citation|url =http://bib.kuleuven.be/ebib/data/jaarverslagen/Sidmar_2002eng.pdf| title = Steel in Progress : Sidmar Annual Report 2002| publisher = [[Sidmar]]| work = bib.kuleuven.be}}</ref>) and later the ability to [[continuous casting|continuous cast]] slab steel, as well as blast furnace expansion.<ref name="ans"/>
In 2002, as part of [[Arbed]] the company became part of [[Arcelor]], and was renamed '''Arcelor Ghent''' in 2006.<ref name="arc"/>
===ArcelorMittal Ghent=== Under ArcelorMittal ownership production continued, as '''ArcelorMittal Ghent'''.<ref name="arc"/> The company produces ~5million tonnes pa of flat steel, with automotive manufacturers being a major source of custom. Flat steel is produced as hot or electrolytically galvanised, and plastic coated steel. The plant produces steel from ore, and has coking plants, [[Sinter Plant]]s (blast furnace feedstock production), blast furnaces of total capacity over 4million tonnes pa, and hot and cold rolling facilities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arcelormittal.com/gent/repository/Publicaties/ThisishowArcelorMittalGentproducessteel.pdf |work=www.arcelormittal.com |title=This is how ArcelorMittal Gent produces steel |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719163152/http://www.arcelormittal.com/gent/repository/Publicaties/ThisishowArcelorMittalGentproducessteel.pdf |archivedate=2011-07-19 }}</ref>
{{wide image|Sidmar_Arcelor-Mittal.jpg|600px|view of ArcelorMittal Ghent (2008)}}
==References== {{reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{citation|title=The Politics of steel: Western Europe and the steel industry in the crisis years (1974-1984)|editor-first=Yves|editor-last= Mény|editor-first2= Vincent|editor-last2= Wright|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1987|chapter=The State, the Regions and Industrial Redevelopment: The Challenge of the Belgian Steel Crisis|first=Michel|last= Capron|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYZinsF8qEAC|pages=692–790}} * {{citation|title=The Belgian economy in the twentieth century|first=André|last= Mommen|publisher=Routledge|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIQOAAAAQAAJ}} * {{citation|title=Histoire économique et sociale de la construction européenne|first=René|last= Leboutte|publisher=Peter Lang|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NI1DG7phrjYC|language=French}}
==External links== * [http://gent.arcelormittal.com/ Website of ArcelorMittal Ghent] * Images: {{cite web|url=http://www.hfinster.de/StahlArt2/archive-Gent-en.html|title=SIDMAR Gent : The SIDMAR steelworks at the Terneuzen - Gent canal|work=www.hfinster.de|author=Harold Finster}} * Images: {{cite web|url=http://www.stahlseite.de/sidmar.htm|title=SIDMAR, GHENT : BELGIEN, BELGIUM|work=www.stahlseite.de|language=German, english|author=Uwe Niggemeier}} * Images: {{cite web|url=http://viktormacha.com/galerie/sidmar-gent-265/|title=ARCELORMITTAL GENT|work=www.viktormacha.com|language=czech, english|author=Viktor Macha}}
[[Category:ArcelorMittal]] [[Category:Steel companies of Belgium]] [[Category:Companies based in Ghent]]