URBEX | HFB - Haut Fourneau B

Описание: The company which built the Haut Fourneau B integrated iron and steelworks dates back 1809. Over the following century there were various mergers and takeovers with other local and regional producers.

By 1914 the company was one of the primary metal producers in Belgium, operating 8 blast furnaces with a steel production capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year, and producing semi and finished products such as bar, plate, beams and rails.

Haut Fourneau B became one of the primary hot production sites of the ArcelorMittal Liege division along with works at Seraing and Chertal. Due to the economic downturn caused by the financial crisis of 2007–2010 blast furnace B temporarily stopped production from spring 2009 to April 2010.

In 2011 all liquid steel production in the ArcelorMittal Liege division was ended, resulting in protests, strikes, and the temporary abduction of several ArcellorMittal executives as protest against the closure.

The company cited overcapacity, and uncompetitiveness as reasons for the closure, but a report commissioned by trade unions contradicted these claims and alleged that ArcelorMittal’s reports used biased accounting methodology.

Trade Union officials called for the Liege steel industry to be taken out of ArcellorMittal’s ownership to protect it, but this never happened and the site still sits unused and decaying to this day.