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Inauguration Ceremony at ThyssenKrupp CSA
06/21/2010 - The ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico steel mill in Santa Cruz, Brazil, is now ready for ramp-up. The investment project is central to its growth strategy for premium carbon flat steel in Europe and North America.
“An important milestone in ThyssenKrupp’s global growth strategy is now ready for ramp-up,” Dr. Ekkehard Schulz, Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp AG, said recently at the opening ceremony of the ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico steel mill in Santa Cruz, Brazil.
Among the roughly 1500 guests, including more than 1000 employees, were the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral; and the CEO of Vale, Roger Agnelli. Vale is a co-owner of ThyssenKrupp CSA with a 26.87% stake.
The new integrated steel mill being built in the state of Rio de Janeiro at a cost of €5.2 billion is said by ThyssenKrupp to be the biggest industrial investment in Brazil in the past 10 years and also the first major steel mill to be built in the country since the mid-1980s. The company notes that the investment project is central to its growth strategy for premium carbon flat steel in Europe and North America.
After start-up, the plant will produce 5 million tonnes of high-quality, low-cost slabs. Three million tonnes will be supplied to the processing plant also under construction near Mobile, Ala., and 2 million tonnes will go to ThyssenKrupp’s plants in Germany, where they will be processed for customers in Europe.
The foundation stone was laid at the end of September 2006. The location in Sepetiba Bay was selected largely due to cost advantages based on direct access to the Atlantic Ocean and the rail line, ending at the site, for the transportation of iron ore from the mines operated by Vale in the Minas Gerais region.
The project includes the construction of a state-of-the-art plant complex with its own port terminal for importing coal and exporting the slabs, raw material handling facilities, coke plant, sinter plant, two blast furnaces, a BOF melt shop, and a power plant.
In the construction of the integrated steel mill, ThyssenKrupp CSA says it is meeting not only Brazilian environmental standards but also the more stringent European standards. The project was examined and approved by the local environmental authorities.
“Despite the global crisis, we stuck to our plans for our two major projects in Brazil and Alabama, where the slabs produced here will be further processed. We were always sure we had made the right decision. We want to not just maintain but expand our leading position in the global market for high-quality flat-rolled carbon steel,” said Schulz.
When the steel mill is in operation, the company will provide 3500 jobs, which will mostly be filled by Brazilian employees. Cabral said: “Rio de Janeiro is transforming itself into a national and international steelmaking hub, and ThyssenKrupp CSA is making an extraordinary contribution to this process. ThyssenKrupp and Vale are two major companies with well-earned reputations for excellence in their fields of activity and, together, will bring prosperity and economic growth to Brazil.”
“Our aim is to promote the growth of steelmaking production in Brazil, creating wealth and sustainable development. CSA is the concrete manifestation of this,” added Vale’s Agnelli.
