IJmuiden steelworks

Coordinates: 52°28′42″N 4°35′32″E / 52.47839°N 4.59212°E / 52.47839; 4.59212 IJmuiden Steelworks is a steel mill in IJmuiden, Netherlands. Originally built by Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken (KNHS), it is now owned by Tata Steel Europe.

History

1914-1945

The site was on the north bank of the North Sea Canal, beyond its final locks, construction of harbors began -the inner harbour opened in 1920, and the outer harbour in 1923.

By 1924 the first blast furnace, casting hall, coke plant, and an electricity generating plant powered by waste gases from the coke ovens and blast furnaces. The second of two blast furnaces begun in 1919 became operational in 1926. Both blast furnaces were constructed to a design by American company Freyn, Brassert &Co.. The coking plant continued to be expanded throughout the 1920s and 30s, and after World War II.Coal tar by-product from coking was used by the chemical works Cindu (Chemische Industrie Uithoorn), cleaned coke oven gas was used in the site's power plant, and also in nearby municipalities. A brickworks (NV Phoenix Maatschappij voor Vervaardiging van Hoogovensteen), designed to utilise slag from the blast furnace to make building products - the enterprise ceased in 1927. A third blast furnace started operation in 1930.

IJmuiden

IJmuiden (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌɛi̯ˈmœy̯də(n)]) is a port city in the Dutch province of North Holland and is the main town in the municipality of Velsen. It is located at the mouth of the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam, and lies approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Haarlem.

The internal capitalization in the city's spelling is because IJ is a digraph in Dutch, and is therefore sometimes considered to be a ligature, rendering it a single letter.

The port of IJmuiden is a deepwater port suited to fully laden Panamax ships, and fourth port of the Netherlands.

History

In the Roman era, this Velsen district was already inhabited, and archaeological finds at the impoldered lake of Wijkermeer indicate there was a North Sea port of some regional importance built here. Present day IJmuiden includes four harbors: the vissershaven (Ship's code IJM), a fishing dock (visafslag), the haringhaven, the IJmondhaven and the Seaport Marina IJmuiden, a harbour for pleasure craft. IJmuiden became the largest fishing port of the Netherlands after the island of Urk became closed in by the Afsluitdijk. The town suffered heavy damage and demolition during World War II, because of its maritime importance.