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Valdunes may have recovered a colossal order initially intended for a Ukrainian competitor, but his fate is in jeopardy. Since its acquisition in 2014 by a Chinese multinational, the situation of the company has deteriorated.
At Valdunes, it’s as much about alloy as adages. “The misfortune of some is the happiness of others” could perfectly apply to this steel company, the last in France to manufacture wheels and axles for the railway. Taking advantage of the closure, due to the Russian invasion, of the factories of its Ukrainian competitor Interpipe, it has just received an order for 10,000 wheels and 5,000 axles. What to rejoice one might think. But for its employees, it is above all a question of striking the iron while it is hot: they could be dispossessed of this contract.
Because since he bought it in 2014, the main Chinese shareholder of Valdunes, MA Steel, siphons off his entire order book. Only 600 wheels and 300 axles should be entirely manufactured in the group’s two French factories, located in Leffrinckoucke, near Dunkirk, and in Trith-Saint-Léger, near Valenciennes. All other parts will be forged and then processed in China. Before being sent to Valenciennes so that only the last task of the production chain is carried out there: the simple installation of a box allowing the rotation of the axle.
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