Following the October 8 fire incident at its Fos-sur-Mer facility in France, Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal has announced that it has resumed steel production at the facility. The fire severely damaged the steelmaking shop and led to an almost complete halt in output.
The first steel slab since the shutdown was produced on December 22 for a Greek customer. This slab measured 6 meters in length, 1,620 mm in width and 229 mm in thickness. Blast furnace No. 2 had been brought back online in mid-December, enabling the steelmaking shop to produce slabs, with the hot rolling mill also restarted to process these slabs into steel sheets and coil products.
Production at the site had initially been reduced and then stopped almost entirely after the fire until reconstruction and restarting efforts allowed a return to normal activity.
The Fos-sur-Mer plant, which produces a wide range of steel grades for automotive and industrial applications and employs around 2,500 staff and 1,200 subcontractors, remains one of France’s most important integrated steelworks.