Companhia Siderùrgica de Tubarao (CST), Brazil, recently awarded a European consortium a contract for a new blast furnace.

Turnkey delivery of the blast furnace comprises the design, delivery, assembly and supervision of startup of a key element of an expansion project of CST, who will increase their annual production with this new facility to 7.5 million tonnes or roughly 50%.

Led by VAI, the consortium includes German Ferrostaal and Paul Wurth of Luxemburg. The contract is valued at approximately 180 million euros, with VAI’s portion accounting for approximately 120 million Euros.

Voest-Alpine Iindustrieanlagenbau (VAI), a company of the listed VA Technologie AG, is one of the world’s leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron, steel and aluminum industries with a multinational company structure and special focus on technology, automation and services. VAI achieved total sales of 976 million EUR in 2003 and employs approximately 3,400 people worldwide.