Antonio
Marcegaglia
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Teesside
Cast Products, the slabmaking operation of Corus
in northeast England, has embarked on a £40
million ($70 million) project to increase the
quality and capacity of its output by modernising
its two slab casters and slowly phasing out the
bloom caster.
Antonio Marcegaglia, ceo of Marcegaglia in Italy,
a member of a consortium of the slab buyers that
committed to investing in the Teesside plant in
return for slab supplies, said the consortium
will provide roughly £30 million of the
finance for the project.
Corus said that the £40 million investment
includes capital expenditure to improve the logistics
of the business. The company will acquire a dedicated
fleet of rail wagons to transport slab to Teesport.
The investment is part of a $100
million programme that the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker
has financed in conjunction with the consortium
of steelmakers led by Duferco and including Marcegaglia,
Mexico's Imsa and Korea's Dongkuk (MB Jan 5 2005). |
The bulk of the £40 million will go on revamping
of the slab casters, said Marcegaglia.
Under the agreement bewteen the consortium and Corus,
the consortium members will receive a portion of the
slab produced at Teesside at cost price in return for
financing investments at the site.
“The revamping of the slab casters will increase
the slab casting speed, raising theoutput of the casters,”
said Marcegaglia. He added that the modernisation of
the casters will also improve the quality of the slabs
cast from these machines. “We believe this investment
will improve the reliability of the whole system,”
he said.
The two slab casters currently produce a total of 3.2
million tpy of slab, said Marcegaglia, out of a total
capacity of 3.4 million tpy.
“The plan is to do 3.6-3.8 million tpy once the
investment is completed,” said Marcegaglia, in
order to bring casting capacity into line with the 3.8
million tpy output of the nearby Redcar blast furnace,
one of Western Europe's largest, whose capacity is a
theoretical 4 million tpy.
Marcegaglia said a contract for the revamping of the
casters is under negotiation with two plantmakers. “We
plan to have it in place in the next two to three weeks,”
he said. He added: “We plan to have this specific
project completed in about 12-14 months.”
Teesside's 1.2 million tpy capacity bloom caster will
be decommissioned this year, said Marcegaglia. “It
produces only occasionally at the moment and will stop
casting altogether during the course of the year, which
will enable Teesside to concentrate on the slab production.”
The project will also include small investments at Teesside's
steel melting converters.
Officials at Corus TCP did not return calls.
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