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Equipment Failure Could Delay Completion of Gary Blast Furnace Rebuild

09/13/2005 - United States Steel Corp. has confirmed that an equipment failure at the company’s Gary Works could delay completion of its rebuild of Blast Furnace No. 14.

United States Steel Corp. has confirmed that an equipment failure at the company’s Gary Works could delay completion of its rebuild of Blast Furnace No. 14.

Gary Works No. 14 Blast Furnace — formerly known as the infamous Gary No. 13 Blast Furnace — was constructed in 1974 and previously relined in 1991.

Upon completion of the rebuild, the blast furnace should be capable of producing 9,200 tons of hot metal per day at 97.5% availability for 20 years. Previously, the blast furnace had been producing 7,045 tons of hot metal per day — about 45% of Gary Works’ total iron production.

The rebuild of this blast furnace is U. S. Steel’s largest single capital investment since the early 1990s, when the greenfield construction of the joint venture Pro-Tec Coating Co. began in Leipsic, Ohio.

The incident, which occurred on Saturday, Sept. 10, involved the failure of multiwheel carriers that were transporting a large fabricated furnace section that was to be placed at the furnace site. The failure resulted in damage to the carriers and potential damage to the furnace section.

U. S. Steel says it has secured replacement construction equipment, which is now being moved to the site. The furnace shell will be inspected to determine the extent of any damage and potential delay in startup.

There were no injuries as a result of this incident, and other auxiliary work on the rebuild continues.