ArcelorMittal Restarts Two Blast Furnaces in Europe
01/23/2013 - ArcelorMittal announced that blast furnace B in Gijón, Spain, and blast furnace No. 2 in Dunkerque, France, restarted production mid-January. Both had been idled since summer 2012.
ArcelorMittal announced that blast furnace B in Gijón, Spain, and blast furnace No. 2 in Dunkerque, France, restarted production mid-January. Both had been idled since summer 2012.
Blast furnace B in Gijón was restarted on 15 January, after remaining idled for seven months. This major production facility, with a production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per year, was shut down in July for a scheduled partial relining, which represented a €30 million investment. However, the blast furnace was not restarted upon completion of the relining work in September due to weak market conditions. Twin blast furnace A has remained in operation during these months, supplying the steel shops in Gijón and Avilés.
The decision to restart the blast furnace has been favored by the recent agreements on port tariffs reached with the Port of Gijón, by the expectation of new electricity tariffs linked to the interruptibility service, and by the agreement reached with the unions regarding a new framework collective agreement that introduces increased flexibility in labor conditions as well as a labor cost reduction.
All these measures have contributed to reinforcing the competitiveness of the products manufactured by ArcelorMittal’s Spanish operations, improving their ability to access export markets in a context marked by a drop of more than 25% in steel consumption in southern Europe compared to 2007, a situation further aggravated in Spain by the collapse of the construction sector and severe decline in private consumption.
In Dunkerque, France, blast furnace No. 2 resumed production on 17 January after having remained idled since August 2012. Its production will allow the site to respond to a slight rise in demand driven by lower inventory levels.
Blast furnace No. 2 has a production capacity of 1 million tonnes per year, and ArcelorMittal invested €8m in its maintenance. With 3,300 employees and three blast furnaces currently operating, ArcelorMittal Dunkerque is of strategic importance to the group as it has a total production capacity of 7 million tonnes. The site currently supplies slabs to sites in the Atlantic region, as well as to Florange in the Lorraine region and Liège in Belgium.
