Severstal Wheeling to indefinitely idle EAF at Ohio plant at end of March

According to local news sources, Severstal Wheeling, a division of Severstal North America has informed union workers and management at its Mingo Junction, Ohio facility that it will indefinitely idle the facility's caster, electric arc furnace (EAF) and 80-inch hot strip mill at  at the end of March due to the lack of orders. 

Severstal Wheeling has been matching production to demand by trimming its facilities' output since the third quarter of 2008. In January '09, the firm announced its plans to idle Mingo Junction's EAF in February '09. However, while the shutdown date was pushed back to March, sources say that the expected length of the idle has been changed from “temporary” to “indefinite,” with union officials expecting a prolonged stoppage lasting at least two months. Meanwhile, Mingo Junction's blast furnace, which has been idle since it was taken down for routine maintenance in August, will also remain closed.

Ken Aspenleiter, president of United Steelworkers Local 1190, said during a union member meeting in Wheeling, Ohio that the minute a turnaround begins, Mingo Junction would be ready to resume operations immediately. He also said that the firm’s other plants, such as its Yorkville and Martins Ferry, Ohio facilities, which make black plate for tin coating operations and galvanized coils, as well as its Follansbee coke plant would continue to operate.