Altos Hornos de Vizcaya
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Altos Hornos de Vizcaya (AHV; Spanish for " Blast Furnaces of Bizkaia ") was a Spanish company in the iron and steel industry . It was created on April 29, 1902 from the merger of Altos Hornos y Fábricas de Hierro y Aceros de Bilbao ("Blast Furnaces and Iron and Steel Works of Bilbao "), La Vizcaya and La Iberia . The three companies were in a boom around the turn of the 20th century and produced iron and steel for all of Spain and also exported to other European countries. At the time of its establishment, AHV was the largest company in Spain. Its headquarters and main plant were in the Basque town of Sestao near Bilbao, which is traditionally characterized by iron production , in the immediate vicinity of the iron ore deposits there and the sea port of Bilbao.
At first, AHV produced mainly on the basis of charcoal , but soon replaced it with hard coal coke imported from England , which had a higher calorific value . The connection of iron ore exports with coke imports promoted Bilbao's role as a trading metropolis and the emergence of new shipyards in the Nervión estuary (Astilleros del Nervión, Compañía Euskalduna ).
In addition, the smelting works with their demand for ores, labor, machines and tools and railway lines were an important factor in the development of the province of Biskaia as one of the most important industrial regions in Spain.
After the Spanish Civil War , which largely spared Basque industry from destruction, the iron and steel works became a magnet for rural exodus and the economic development of the area. This formed the basis for the growth of the metropolitan region of Bilbao into one of the largest agglomerations in Spain. Cities such as Barakaldo , Sestao , Portugalete , Ortuella and Abanto-Zierbena owe their size and in part their creation to AHV.
After the boom years in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Spanish iron and steel industry and with its AHV had been in economic difficulties since the oil crisis , which resulted in numerous restructuring measures, some of which were state-regulated, layoffs and capacity reductions. The state's influence on the AHV increased through the restructuring programs. Finally, in December 1994, in the so-called Plan de Competitividad Conjunto AHV- Ensidesa (the "Competitiveness Plan AHV-Ensidesa Complex"), AHV and the steel producer Ensidesa, founded by the Instituto Nacional de Industria , became the Corporación Siderúrgica Integral (CSI, "Integrated Steel Production Company") ), whose reorganization finally led to the founding of Aceralia in 1997 , which now belongs to Arcelor and Arcelor Mittal .
