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Dillinger Hütte to Construct Monopile Plant on North Sea

09/23/2011 - Dillinger Hütte is investing €135 million to build a plant that will manufacture offshore monopile foundations from thick-walled structural tubulars. It is expected to begin operation in 2014.

Dillinger Hütte is investing €135 million to build a supplier plant that will manufacture offshore monopile foundations from thick-walled structural tubulars for the future Steelwind Nordenham Co.
 
The Dillinger Hütte Supervisory Board approved the investment for construction of a monopile plant in Nordenham (Lower Saxony), directly on the North Sea. The location is ideal in terms of logistics, both for supplying the plant with plate from Dillinger Hütte and its subsidiary, GTS Industries (Dunkirk), as well as for delivering the finished monopiles, which can feature diameters of up to 7 meters, lengths of up to 100 meters, and can weigh up to 1000 tonnes.
 
After reaching full capacity, which is expected in 2017, the plant will be able to produce 100 monopiles per year. Expected to begin operation in 2014, the plant will feature its own wharf facilities, large storage areas, and railway and truck connections. With this investment, Dillinger Hütte will become a full-service provider of monopiles, not just a supplier of heavy plate.
 
Dr. Karlheinz Blessing, Chief Executive Officer of Dillinger Hütte and member of the Board of Management, said: “This investment fits with our strategy. With it, we want to expand our processing depth without competing with our customers, which would be possible given the enormous demand. At the same time, this strategic forward integration secures the jobs in both our Dillingen and Dunkirk plants, since we will be supplying the high-quality plate grades ourselves.”
 
Dillinger Hütte also is investing around €9 million in the construction of a second state-of-the-art plate edge-milling machine in its heavy fabrication division at the Dillingen location. This system allows plate to be precisely dimensioned. These plates are primarily used for heavy plate with greater thicknesses, such as that used for pressure vessels and for offshore monopiles.
 
Both the plate edge-milling machine and the investment in construction of the new CC6 continuous casting line, which was approved in May, are expected to ensure sufficient supplies of the plate.