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ThyssenKrupp Opens Steelmaking and Processing Plant in Alabama
12/13/2010 - Following three years of construction, the new steelmaking and processing plant of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA has officially opened in Alabama. ThyssenKrupp invested US$5 billion in the overall complex, $3.6 billion for the carbon flat steel facilities and $1.4 billion for the stainless area.
Following three years of construction, the new steelmaking and processing plant of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA has officially opened in Alabama.
ThyssenKrupp invested US$5 billion in the overall complex, $3.6 billion for the carbon flat steel facilities and $1.4 billion for the stainless area.
For the production of carbon flat steel, the plant will be supplied with 3 million tonnes of slabs per year from Brazil. These will be shipped to the Port of Mobile, which has been specially expanded for this purpose, and from there along the Tombigbee River to the plant’s own river terminal. The central element of the plant is a wide hot strip mill with a capacity of over 5 million tonnes per year. The first coil was produced there in July. The cold rolling mill started operation in September. The coating lines of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA will be completed step-by-step. The first cold-rolled products have already been shipped to customers.
The hot strip mill will also be used by ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA in the future. Stainless operations got underway in September 2010 with one cold rolling mill and an annual capacity of around 100,000 tonnes. Further units such as the hot-rolled annealing and pickling line, which is scheduled to start production in fall 2011, are currently at the planning stage or under construction. A second, 72-inch cold rolling mill is scheduled to come on stream around the same time. Starting material for ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA is currently being supplied from the Group’s European plants.
In the future, the stainless steel slabs will be produced in an on-site melt shop in Calvert. Construction work is now starting. Part of the stainless hot-rolled produced there will later be supplied to ThyssenKrupp Mexinox in San Luis Potosí (Mexico). Startup of the electric-arc furnace melt shop is planned for December 2012. It will have an annual capacity of up to 1 million tonnes.
ThyssenKrupp notes that the carbon flat steel market in the NAFTA region has a large, steadily growing premium segment; the company wants to take advantage of this market—with customers in the service center, automotive, construction, appliance and tube sectors—and increase its market share to more than 5%.
Stainless steel flat products from ThyssenKrupp are already marketed in the NAFTA region through sales companies. The current market share is more than 15%, which the company expects to increase significantly through ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA.
The decision to build a greenfield plant in the U.S. was made in May 2007. The groundbreaking ceremony on the 14 square kilometer site took place on November 2, 2007. ThyssenKrupp claims that the total amount of steel used in the construction of the plant would be enough to build 10 Eiffel Towers.
“With the startup of the plant in Alabama and the launch of the steel mill in Brazil in the summer, ThyssenKrupp is entering a new dimension of its history,” said Dr. Ekkehard Schulz, Chief Executive Officer of ThyssenKrupp AG, at the opening ceremony in Calvert. “These two projects are the cornerstones of our transatlantic growth strategy: We plan to achieve profitable growth in international markets of the future. That’s why the investments in our plants in the USA and Brazil are true investments in the future.”
ThyssenKrupp is a global integrated materials and technology group with more than 177,000 employees in more than 80 countries developing ideas and innovations for sustainable progress. Eight business areas focus the Group’s activities and expertise in the strategic competency areas of Materials and Technologies. The Group also offers complete system solutions and innovative services. In the U.S., ThyssenKrupp has a presence in almost every state: 70 Group companies at more than 400 locations in the U.S. employ more than 17,000 people and generate sales of US$6.7 billion, an eighth of the Group’s total sales.
