OREANDA-NEWS. December 25, 2012. His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, visited Tata Steel’s Port Talbot Steelworks to see the new Blast Furnace No 4 (BF4) project and meet the members of the team who have played a part in the UK’s largest ongoing industrial engineering project. His Royal Highness unveiled a plaque commemorating his visit. The project is a ?185-million investment, part of a capital investment programme currently totalling over ?300 million for the Port Talbot site.

Welcoming the Prince of Wales to Port Talbot Steelworks, Ian Hobson, Tata Steel’s manufacturing director of the operational hub of Port Talbot and Llanwern steelworks, said, “It is a great honour for us to welcome His Royal Highness to the site and we hope he will share in our pride in a project which will have a massive positive impact on the local community and the Welsh economy in general.”

Mr Hobson added, “The royal visit pays credit to those who have been engaged in the BF4 re-build project – and also all those who have maintained our production operations while this complex project has been proceeding.”

“We are proud of a great tradition of royal visits to this vital industrial site. Her Majesty The Queen formally opened the site in 1953, and His Royal Highness launched Blast Furnace No 5, which is operating today and has been in continuous operation throughout the BF4 project.”

BF4 is due to be re-lit in the first quarter of 2013. The state-of-the art furnace includes improved health and safety, environmental care, and efficiency features.