ArcelorMittal Poland has announced that its Dąbrowa Górnicza steelworks has received the largest single iron ore shipment in the plant’s history transported from the port of Świnoujście.
The delivery was also the heaviest iron ore train ever to arrive at the steelworks on the European gauge railway network, carrying more than 3,000 mt of iron ore on 49 wagons.
New wagon configuration boosts transport capacity
The record shipment was achieved through cooperation between the company’s raw materials logistics and railway services purchasing departments together with logistics partners. According to the company, the new train configuration enables up to 40 percent more iron ore to be transported per shipment compared to standard trains, reducing the number of trips required while lowering costs and environmental impact.
Witold Hickiewicz, logistics project manager at ArcelorMittal Poland, stated that the use of shorter wagons allowed the company to increase the number of wagons in a train without exceeding the maximum permitted train length. As a result, each wagon carried an average of 64 mt of iron ore, allowing more than 3,000 mt to be transported in a single journey. Standard ore trains typically transport 2,200-2,300 mt.
Additional transport trials show positive results
Przemysław Smoła, manager in the raw materials logistics department, said the new train configuration enabled larger raw material volumes to be transported using the same number of logistics operations, improving cost efficiency, infrastructure utilization and supply stability.
Since May, ArcelorMittal Poland has also been conducting additional transport trials. Iron ore trains arriving from the Medyka transshipment terminal on the Polish-Ukrainian border reached average loads of 2,900 mt, more than 25 percent above previous shipment levels.
According to ArcelorMittal Poland, the higher load capacities could improve the efficiency of its raw material supply chain and reduce the number of trains required to supply the Dąbrowa Górnicza steelworks with iron ore and other raw materials.
