Heritage → The history of OKK Koksovny

OKK: Over a century of tradition

Text: Luděk Vokáč

OKK Koksovny only joined MTX Group in 2013, but their coking plant in Ostrava was built back in 1908. However, the history of coke production in OKK dates back even further, to 1843. This traditional operation is one of the most advanced in its field and is the biggest foundry coke producer in Europe.

When Abraham Darby started using coke to melt iron ore in his Coalbrookdale blast furnace in 1709, he sparked the industrial revolution. And coke production has since become an important field. Back then, people knew it for about a hundred years. At the beginning of the 17th century, Henry Platt proposed a process similar to charcoal processing. People only used coke in a limited way at that time for heating or in some food production processes. For example, it was used in breweries to roast malt. Using coke greatly reduces sulfur compounds emissions which contaminate the malt and the beer brewed from it. This is where Abraham Darby found his inspiration. The history of coke making in our country is rooted in the Ostrava region, where the first coke ovens appeared in the 1840s. The first coke oven was called Jan and it opened in 1843 in Karviná. Later, it was renamed President Beneš in 1946 and then Československá Armáda (Czechoslovak Army) in 1948. This plant can be considered the foundation of what is now OKK Koksovny. In 1952, Ostravsko Karvinské Koksovny (OKK) was founded by the state, which grouped together individual coking plants in the region. They were called Svoboda, Jan Šverma, Karolina, Trojice, Československá Armáda and Lazy. The only coking plants outside of OKK were those that belonged to metallurgical operations, namely the coking plants in Vítkovice, Třinec, Ostrava (Nová Huť was founded in 1952), and in Kladno. The state-owned OKK was closely linked to the state-owned Ostrava-Karviná mines (OKD). It effectively controlled OKK and was also their exclusive coal supplier. Even in former communist Czechoslovakia, there was gradual development in the field of coke making. First, the Lazy coking plant was shut down in 1967, with a replacement planned for the future. In 1976, the construction of a new coke oven plant in Stonava began, but it never really got up and running. Construction resumed just ten years later, but then came the Velvet Revolution, which changed the plans again. Construction of the coke plant ceased for good in 1991. At that time, OKK was part of the new joint-stock company Ostravsko-Karviné Doly, which replaced the state-owned OKD on January 1st, 1991. The coking plants which entered the new era had been considerably slimmed down, as the coking plants Trojice (1983) and Karolina (1984) had also been shut down before the revolution. The remaining coking plants were Svoboda, Jan Šverma and Československá Armáda. In 1994, these spun off into an independent company, OKK, which remains 100% owned by OKD. After the revolution, the coking plant needed to adapt to the new market and make its production more environmentally friendly. However, there was also a decline in operations. In 1997, after 154 years, the operation of the Československá Armáda coking plant, the oldest and the longest operating coking plant in the Czech Republic, shut down. In the same year, the remaining two coking plants, Svoboda and Jan Šverma, both in Ostrava, were hit by devastating floods, causing production to halt for 11 (Svoboda) and 38 days (Jan Šverma). The plants had gradually undergone modernization and become more environmentally friendly. However, in 2010 production at the Jan Šverma coking plant ended, meaning that Svoboda coking plant, located near the city center of Ostrava and founded in 1908, became the only remaining plant in OKK. In 2013, the coking plant was acquired by former joint-stock company MTX CZ, the precursor to the current MTX Group. In the following year, Zdeněk Durčák joined the management of OKK Koksovny and started to significantly restructure the company. His main task was primarily to make the operation more efficient and environmentally friendly. The coking plant thus invested more than 100 million crowns into modernization and environmental protection annually. It also entered into voluntary agreements with the Statutory City of Ostrava and the Moravian-Silesian Region, through which it committed to other projects and measures which surpassed the minimum legal requirements. Today, the Svoboda coking plant is one of the most modern operations of its kind in the world. It is not only the largest European producer of foundry coke, but also the largest exporter of coke to the USA. TOKK Koksovny operates a total of four coking batteries with 210 chambers and a maximum annual production capacity of 800,000 tons of coke from its Svoboda plant. The company currently employs just under 500 employees and since May last year it has been managed by Pavel Woznica, who replaced Zdeněk Durčák as the managing director. Under his leadership, the coke plant continues to strive primarily to reduce its impact on the environment and ensure sustainable, efficient, and responsible operation near Ostrava city center.

OKK History

1843 Jan coking plant established (later renamed President Beneš and then Československá Armáda).

1846 Trojice coking plant established.

1858 Karolina coking plant established.

1892 Ignát coking plant, later known as Jan Šverma, established.

1899 Lazy coking plant established.

1908 František coking plant, today known as Svoboda, established.

1952 Ostravsko-Karvinské Koksovny was established, which managed all the surrounding coking plants which weren’t part of smelters. These were the Svoboda, Jan Šverma, Karolina, Trojice, Československá Armáda, and Lazy coking plants.

1967 Lazy coke plant shut down.

1983 Trojice coke plant shut down.

1984 Karolina coke plant shut down. 1991 At the end of 1990, the state enterprise OKD ceased to exist and as its successor, the joint-stock company Ostravsko-Karvinské Doly (OKD) was established on January 1st of 1991 with the exclusive participation of the state. The coking plants belonged to this group as well.

1994 OKD puts the coke plants into a separate company, which is still 100% owned by OKD. The new company managed two coke plants in Ostrava and in the Karviná region.

1997 The Czechoslovak Army coke plant was shut down.

1998 The Jan Šverma and Svoboda coking plants underwent extensive environmental changes.

2010 After 118 years, the Jan Šverma coking plant was shut down, so only the Svoboda coking plant remains as part of OKK Koksovny.

2013 OKK Koksovny became part of MTX CZ, a.s., the precursor to the current MTX Group.