Posted on 12 Jul 2013
Thai company SSI has manufactured more steel in its first year than produced in any year since the Redcar plant opened in 1979. Capacity is due to ramp up further when the company’s GBP 37 million plant goes live.
The PCI process will blow powdered coal into the heart of the blast furnace, speeding up production from 8,500 tonnes to 10,000 or nearly enough to build half a Transporter Bridge a day.
However, the investment will help safeguard 1,800 jobs at the plant and thousands more in the supply chain.
A spokesperson for SSI said that “The largest shipment we have ever sent was 88,000 tonnes, but they can be anything from 40,000 tonnes up. It takes more than 30 days for a shipment to reach Thailand. Most of the steel is exported to Thailand and Turkey.”
Corus said that plans to mothball the former Teesside Cast Products site in 2009, throwing 1,800 jobs and thousands more indirect jobs across Teesside into jeopardy.
