ArcelorMittal delivered its first shipment of slab for the plant in Calvert, Alabama from its steel plant in Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. The company recently acquired the plant through a joint venture with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation.
In a statement, the company said Monday that this shipment of 48,751 tons (comprising 2,117 slabs) was released on May 12 in the MV Trident Legacy boat. The shipment included 14 different steel grades produced at the plant in Lázaro Cárdenas, including 9,000 tons of API (American Petroleum Institute) grade and 20,000 tons of high strength grades. The shipment arrived last week to the port of Pinto Island in Alabama, to be transported to the plant in Calvert.
Mexico was chosen to be the supplier of the steel, not only for its proximity to Alabama, but also by the high quality of its flat steel products. The Calvert plant has hot mills to transform these slabs in various products.
"To be considered one of the suppliers of slabs for the plant in Calvert is a big plus for us, as it will give us more consistent production volumes and tranquility to maintain our high capacity utilization,” said Gustavo Campos, Director of ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon for Mexico. “It also bring benefits to the Group with the geographical location of both mills, as we can combine the technological capacity of Calvert and the level of experience of our plant in Lázaro Cárdenas, positioning us as one of the strongest options for supplying steel for the energy market.”
The Lázaro Cárdenas plant is the largest producer and exporter of steel for ArcelorMittal Mexico. It is also the largest producer of slab in the country through direct reduction process in electric arc continuous casting method. The plant also has the largest port facility dedicated to the transport of steel and minerals in the country.