Worldwide industrial services company Harsco Corporation Friday announced that it has been awarded a new multi-year contract over its duration as an onsite services provider at the 1,200-acre Ispat Dolvi complex, a major integrated facility based in Maharashtra. The contract is estimated to be valued in excess of $65 million.
According to contract specifications, Harsco will now undertake a myriad of onsite services including metal recovery, slag stockpile services and material handling. At the current time Ispat Dolvi, owned by large private sector hot rolled coils producer Ispat Industries Limited, produces more than 3 million metric tons of steel per year.
Harsco said in a press release that its entry into India comes at a time of rapidly escalating growth in the Indian steel sector, as World Steel Association is forecasting a 12.1 percent increase in steel use in 2010. Longer-term projections anticipate a quadrupling of India's total steel production from its current 50 million mt to approximately 200 million mt by 2020, according to Harsco. The Ispat Dolvi mill itself has recently gone through a major modernization of its blast furnace to increase production levels by almost 20 percent. The Dolvi complex is well-situated for growth, encompassing its own bulk materials port which opens into the Arabian Sea and a dedicated cargo handling complex capable of handling up to 10 million mt of cargo per year.
Work is scheduled to be underway before the start of 2011.