German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp has announced the official commissioning of the new steelmaking and processing plant of its subsidiaries ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA in the southeastern USA, following a three-year construction period.
ThyssenKrupp has invested $5 billion in the overall complex - $3.6 billion for the carbon flat steel facilities and $1.4 billion for the stainless area.
The central element of the plant is a wide hot strip mill with a capacity of over five million metric tons per year, producing its first coil in July. The cold rolling mill started operation in September and the coating lines of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA will be completed step by step.
Stainless operations got underway in September 2010 with one cold rolling mill having an annual capacity of around 100,000 tons. Further units such as a second cold rolling mill and a hot rolled annealing and pickling line are scheduled to start production in fall 2011. Startup of the electric-arc furnace melt shop is planned for December 2012. It will have an annual capacity of up to 1 million metric tons.
"With the startup of the plant in Alabama and the launch of the steel mill in Brazil in the summer, ThyssenKrupp is entering a new dimension of its history. These two projects are the cornerstones of our transatlantic growth strategy. We plan to achieve profitable growth in the international markets of the future. That's why the investments in our plants in the USA and Brazil are true investments in the future," said Dr. Ekkehard Schulz, chief executive officer of ThyssenKrupp AG, at the opening ceremony in Calvert.