Thai group restarts Teesside blast furnace
17 Apr 2012
Redcar, UK - Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) has restarted the blast furnace at the Redcar steel slab production plant on Teesside. The Thai group acquired the 3,500ktpa unit in February 2011 from Tata Steel as part of a £290-million deal.
The former owner mothballed the Teesside Cast Products steel slab facility just over two years ago following the loss of major long-term orders.
Since its acquisition, SSI has invested around £700 million in the facility.
Renamed Sahaviriya Steel Teesside, the unit will employ up to 1,800 people at full capacity, and is to supply SSI’s downstream rolling operation in Thailand.
The iron and steel making facility is on a coastal site in Redcar, and in the north east of England. The site, said SSI, has an efficient plant layout and infrastructure, integrated with a deep-water berth and ore terminal for easy access to imported raw materials.
The blast furnace - the second largest blast in Europe - is linked to the 3,500ktpa steel slab production unit. The operation is integrated from raw material agglomeration, coke making, through to iron and steel making and power generation.
In taking on the operation, SSI said it was impressed by its 160-year heritage, modern steel-making facilities, the skills and dedication of the local workforce and experience of its engineers.
SSI is the largest steel sheet producer in southeast Asia with annual hot-rolling capacity of 4,000ktpa. It is an integrated flat steel producer - from agglomeration, coke making, iron making, steel making, hot rolling, cold rolling to galvanising.
