中国钢材销往欧洲 英国百年钢厂倒闭
REDCAR, England — This small town on the North Sea, famous for a century-old mill that produced the steel for some of the world’s most iconic bridges, has been shattered by the news that the plant is about to shut forever, taking 2,200 jobs with it.
英国雷德卡——这座北海边的小城，以一家为世界上的一些标志性桥梁生产钢材的百年老厂而闻名。然而，这家工厂即将永久关闭并随之丧失2200个工作岗位。消息令全城震惊不已。
The upheavals of postindustrial Britain were on display one recent evening at O’Grady’s, a local pub, as steelworkers shared their sorrow just a few feet away from a businessman who sells cheap Chinese steel to the British government, something many in Redcar complain about.
后工业化时代英国的这次振荡最近一个晚上在当地酒吧O’Grady’s展现得淋漓尽致。钢铁工人分享他们的悲伤，而咫尺之外就是一名向英国政府销售中国廉价钢材的商人——许多雷德卡人对此颇有抱怨。
“Everyone’s going crackers,” said Conrad McCormick, 38, a married father of two who lost his job at the mill, which made steel for the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, the Victoria Falls Bridge in Zambia and 1 World Trade Center in New York.
“所有人都要疯了，”38岁的康拉德·麦考密克(Conrad McCormick)说道。他是一位有两个孩子的已婚父亲，丢了工厂的工作。他原来工作的地方为澳大利亚悉尼海港大桥、赞比亚维多利亚瀑布大桥和纽约世界贸易中心一号楼生产过钢材。
“The only thing I’m sure of in my life right now is this,” he said, holding up a pint of beer.
“现在我生活中唯一能确定的事情就是这个，”他举起一杯啤酒说。
Across the pub, also pint in hand, stood Jim, a 61-year-old businessman who declined to give his surname. Jim said his midsize company was doing well selling Chinese and other foreign steel to the government to build railways, wind farms and public buildings.
吧台另一边，站着61 岁的商人吉姆(Jim)，他的手里也拿着酒。他不愿透露自己的姓。吉姆说，他的中型公司销售中国等地的外国钢材给政府来修建铁路、风力发电场和公共建筑，生意不错。
Britain “is saving money and cutting the public deficit by importing cheap material from abroad,” he said.
英国“正通过从国外进口低成本材料来节省资金和削减公共赤字，”他说。
The final closing of the Teesside Steelworks plant, founded in 1917 and most recently owned by Sahaviriya Steel Industries of Thailand, was announced on Oct. 12. Earlier in the month, the British unit of Sahaviriya, which operated the plant, filed for bankruptcy, and the coke ovens were kept burning amid talks of a takeover by another company. But those talks fell through. Once the coke ovens go cold, there is very little chance of restarting the plant.
提赛德钢铁厂(Teesside Steelworks)成立于1917年，最近由泰国伟成发钢铁工业公司(Sahaviriya Steel Industries)拥有，于10月12日正式宣布关闭。本月早些时候，伟成发负责运营此家工厂的英国分公司申请破产，与另一家公司谈判收购事宜之际，厂内的炼焦炉保持了点火状态。但这些谈判最终不了了之。一旦炼焦炉冷却，重新启动工厂的机会就微乎其微了。
The same forces are also buffeting another steel company, Tata, which announced on Friday that it was slashing 1,200 jobs in Britain, or 7 percent of its work force there.
同样的力量也在猛烈冲击另一家钢铁公司——塔塔钢铁公司(Tata)。它于上周五宣布，将在英国大幅削减1200个工作岗位，相当于当地员工总数的7%。
The government has announced a compensation package worth 80 million pounds, or about $123.5 million, for the Teesside workers, involving retraining and money for start-ups, but the latest crisis was the final nail for the famous steelworks.
政府已经宣布了一项价值 8000 万英镑（约合7.9亿元人民币）的提赛德员工赔偿方案，包括再培训和创业资金，但最新的危机是对这家著名钢厂的最终定论。
Redcar, a northeastern England town of just 35,000, is in a region already suffering from Britain’s highest unemployment rate — 8.5 percent, three points higher than the national figure. At least 10 percent of young people here are unemployed, and hundreds of steelworkers on contract have been fired in addition to the 2,200 employees.
雷德卡是仅有3.5 万人口的英格兰东北小城，本已身处英国失业率最高的地区。这里的失业率达8.5%，比全国平均数字高出三个百分点。雷德卡至少10%的年轻人处于无业状态。在那2200名员工之外，还有数百名合同工被解雇。
Once renowned for its solid industrial jobs, the town is now famous for its “charity shops, pubs and takeaways,” said Claire, a 35-year-old nurse who is married to a steelworker.
这座小城曾以不错的产业工作岗位而享誉英国，现在却以“慈善商店、酒吧和外卖店”而闻名，35岁的护士克莱尔(Claire)说道。她的丈夫是一名钢铁工。
Without steel, Redcar offers little else to the world, except for modest summer seaside tourism. Even then, it is badly served by the local rail network — a slow, four-carriage train on rickety tracks — and British tourists find it easier to fly to Spain.
去掉钢材，雷德卡就没有什么其他东西可以向世界供应的了，除了规模不大的夏季海滨旅游。即便是旅游业，也被当地铁路网——摇摇晃晃的轨道上跑着一趟缓慢的四车厢列车——严重拖累，英国游客觉得飞到西班牙会更容易一些。
“It’s such a small town, it’s forgotten by everyone else,” said Alan Bunn, 38, another steelworker who has been laid off.
“它是一座弹丸小城，被所有人遗忘了，”另一位已下岗的38岁钢铁工人阿兰·邦恩(Alan Bunn)说。
The loss of Redcar’s competitiveness is on open display: Even the soccer stadium in the nearby city of Middlesborough was built using German steel. An offshore wind farm in the sea near the town was built with German and Belgian steel.
雷德卡的竞争力丧失是有目共睹的：就连附近城市米德尔斯堡修建足球场使用的也是德国钢材。小城附近洋面的一座海上风电场使用的是德国和比利时钢材。
An official at EDF Energy Renewables, which operates the wind farm, said the company’s policy was to use local material. But local steel was found to be “not up to par with the company’s standards of quality,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
运营这座风电场的法国电力集团可再生能源公司(EDF Energy Renewables)的一位负责人表示，他们公司的政策是使用当地材料。但是当地钢材“没有达到公司的质量标准，”这位负责人说。由于问题的敏感性，此人要求不具名。
The government is trying to spur the economies of larger northern cities like Manchester and Leeds, but not those quite as far north as Redcar. Its streets are lined with shuttered stores; there are 12 charity shops and six pawnshops. Cafes, restaurants and hotels that once relied on hundreds of contract workers are empty.
政府正试图刺激较大的北方城市如曼彻斯特和利兹的经济发展，而不是那些像雷德卡这样的偏远北方小城。它的街道两旁是倒闭的商店；这里有12家慈善商店和六间当铺。曾依赖数以百计的合同工的咖啡馆、餐厅和宾馆现在空空如也。
The only other large-scale employer in Redcar is Sembcorp, an energy company based in Singapore that employs 270 workers here.
雷德卡唯一的另一个大型雇主是一家总部设在新加坡的能源公司——胜科工业集团(Sembcorp)，它在这里雇用了270名工人。
“No one really cares about the northeast,” said Mr. Bunn, the steelworker. “You grow up feeling that way. It’s common knowledge.”
“没有人真正关心东北地区，”钢铁工人邦恩说道。 “成长过程中一直有这种感受。尽人皆知。”
Politicians have lost a lot of credibility among Redcar residents, he said, and voters are rejecting the dominant parties to register protest votes instead. In the May election for a parliamentary seat, the local candidate for the anti-immigration U.K. Independence Party did well, coming in just shy of second place.
政客已经在雷德卡居民中丧失了许多信用，他说，选民们向主要政党说不，转而进行抗议式投票。在 5 月的议会席位选举中，反移民的英国独立党(U.K. Independence Party)在当地的候选人表现很好，差一点就位列第二。
Residents and workers like Mr. Bunn acknowledge that job losses are inevitable in a market economy. But there is widespread anger at the government for appearing to abandon the steelworks and the community.
当地居民和像邦恩一样的工人承认，市场经济下裁员是不可避免的。但是，对政府放弃钢厂和社区的态度，很多人都怒火中烧。
Workers and local employers say they want a robust industrial plan to level the playing field for British steel makers. For example, they say, Britain’s environmental taxes and energy prices, which are the most expensive in Europe, must be reduced. They also want the government to impose higher tariffs on Chinese imports and require companies and public works to use local sources for some of their material.
工人和当地的雇主表示，他们希望有一个强力的产业规划，以保证英国钢铁制造商拥有公平的竞争环境。例如，他们说英国的环境税和能源价格是欧洲最高的，必须下降。他们还希望政府对进口的中国商品征收更高的关税，并要求企业和公共工程使用的材料部分来自当地。
“It’s not that we’re trying to pick on China,” said Gary Klesch, a British-American businessman who this year decided against buying a Tata-owned steel plant in Scunthorpe, about 70 miles south of Redcar, citing high energy costs and taxes. China gives its steel industry stronger support than Britain does, he said, “and while China doesn’t break trade rules, they are bending them.”
“这并不是说我们正在试图挑中国的毛病，”英裔美国商人加里·克莱施(Gary Klesch)说，他决定今年不购买塔塔钢铁公司在斯肯索普的钢铁厂，理由是高能源成本和赋税。斯肯索普位于雷德卡以南约70英里处。他说，中国给钢铁行业的支持远比英国更强有力，“虽然中国没有违反贸易规则，他们正在扭曲这些规则。”
The Conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron has ruled out that kind of intervention.
首相戴维·卡梅伦(David Cameron)的保守党政府已经排除了采取这种干预方式的可能性。
Jason Raj, a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, said the government had “taken action to help steel makers by paying 47 million for compensation for energy costs.” In July, Parliament voted to extend tariffs on Chinese wire rod products that Britain believes are priced below fair market value, he said, and “will consider further cases as they arise.”
商业、创新与技能部发言人贾森·拉吉(Jason Raj)说，政府已经“采取行动来帮助钢铁制造商，支付了4700万英镑的能源成本补贴。”他说7月份议会经过表决，延长了对中国盘条产品征收的关税，英国认为该产品的售价低于公平市场价值，并且会“在新情况出现时，考虑进一步措施”。
To Peter Atkinson, 56, the latest crisis is nothing new. He retired from the mill in 2010, when it was being sold to its current owners. Its owner then, Tata Steel of India, had laid off 1,700 workers after a contract ended. Now his 26-year-old son, also a steelworker, is out of a job.
对56岁的彼得·阿特金森(Peter Atkinson)来说，最新的危机不是什么新鲜事。他2010年从工厂退休，当时工厂出售给了目前的所有者。当时的拥有者印度塔塔钢铁公司，在一份合同结束后就解雇了1700名员工。现在，他26岁的同为钢铁工人儿子，已失去了工作。
“It’s nice to look after other people in the world,” Mr. Atkinson said, alluding to a recent announcement by George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer, about a 3 million plan to teach soccer in China. “But sometimes you’ve got to look after your own.”
“能照顾世界其他地方的人是好事，”阿特金森说，他在暗示英国财政大臣乔治·奥斯本(George Osborne)最近宣布的花费300万英镑（约合2950万元人民币）在中国培训足球教练的计划。“但有时你必须照顾好自己。”
There is a lot of griping in Redcar about China, which the Cameron government is hotly pursuing for trade deals. China produces half the world’s steel, and its dominance resonates here because Britain, too, once produced half the world’s steel.
卡梅伦政府正积极寻求与中国做生意，但在雷德卡，人们对中国有很多不满情绪。全世界使用的钢材有一半都是由中国生产，这种主导地位在这里产生了反响，因为英国一度也曾为全世界供应一半的钢材。
China has vast steel stockpiles, amassed during the years after Beijing’s stimulus package in 2008. But now that its economy is losing steam, China is selling its steel at prices that British and other European steel makers struggle to match.
中国有巨大的钢铁库存，它们是在北京于2008年实施经济刺激计划之后的数年里积累起来的。但由于中国经济现在失去了发展动力，它现在正以英国和其他欧洲钢铁制造商难以匹敌的价格销售其钢材。
Britain imported 60 percent of its steel last year, according to UK Steel, an industry lobby; Chinese imports make up 8 percent of Britain’s demand. The figure seems low compared with other competitors from Europe, the Middle East and Russia, said Gareth Stace, the director of UK Steel. But the pace of Chinese imports is alarming, he said, quadrupling in a matter of months, and 40 percent of Britain’s rebar, used to strengthen concrete structures, comes from China.
行业游说团体UK Steel的数据显示，英国去年的钢铁消耗量有60%源自进口，而中国进口钢材满足了英国8%的需求。UK Steel总监加雷思·史戴斯(Gareth Stace)表示，相比来自欧洲、中东和俄罗斯的其他竞争对手所占的份额，这个数字似乎有些低。但他表示，中国进口钢材增长的速度让人心惊——在数月之内就翻了两番，而且英国用来加固混凝土建筑的钢筋，有40%都来自中国。
Back at O’Grady’s, Mr. Atkinson took a philosophical view. “We were born and bred steelers,” he said. “But at the same time, we need to realize that everything has a life span.”
回到O’Grady’s酒吧，阿特金森用一种颇有哲学意味的眼光来看待这件事。“我们生来就是钢铁工人，也是这么被养大的，”他说。“但同时，我们需要意识到，所有事物都有一个生命期限。”
