ArcelorMittal announced that it has signed a deal that would see a significant injection of Italian state funding go into the Ilva steelworks it took over in 2018, and has since resulted in major losses.

Per multiple media reports, ArcelorMittal had threatened to return the long-troubled Ilva steel complex back to the Italian government. The world’s largest steel company noted that it lost 2 million euros a day in 2019, and that it had been negotiating with the government (Rome). The reported deal will see Rome taking an equity stake at least equal to Arcelor Mittal’s remaining liabilities against the original purchase price for Ilva. If the deal is completed, the original lease and purchase agreement under which ArcelorMittal took over Ilva, would close by May 2022.

Under the investment plan, Ilva will invest in lower-carbon steelmaking technologies, with a DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) facility to be built, funded and operated by outside investors, and an electric arc furnace to be built by ArcelorMittal. If the new investment plan cannot be completed by Nov. 30, ArcelorMittal said it could withdraw from the deal, subject to an agreed payment.

The future of the plant has been a challenge for successive Italian governments seeking to clean up the polluted site in the southern city of Taranto while safeguarding thousands of jobs. Last year, ArcelorMittal announced it was pulling out of the 2018 takeover agreement after parliament scrapped a guarantee of legal immunity from prosecution over environmental risks during a clean-up of the heavily polluting factory. What follows is a brief summation of past WJI stories about the Ilva complex.

The integrated steel plant, whose product range includes wire rod, has employed as many as 16,000 people, and thousands more as contractors. Capacity topped 11 million metric tons (mmt), with production at times representing as much as 40% of Italy’s steel production. The flip side was the cost for those achievements.
In 1991, Taranto was described as the most polluted city in Italy and Western Europe, and declared a high environmental risk area by the Ministry of Environment. The Ilva steel complex was deemed the largest offender. For years, there were complaints about pollution from the massive site, including “red dust” that coated the area. The European Pollutant Emission Register estimated that dioxin emissions from the Taranto Ilva operations were responsible for 30% of all such reported emissions in Italy in 2002. An even higher number was reported for 2004.

In recent years, the news has been crushing on multiple levels for Ilva. ArcelorMittal was criticized by trade unions that blamed the steel giant as well as by the ruling anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S)—a foe of big industry—for exiting a deal that would have safeguarded thousands of jobs. Ultimately, opinion has been split between those who see the business as a necessity due to its providing revenue to the area, and those who say that the environmental price has been far too high.

Encore Wire Corporation announced plans to further expand its campus in McKinney, Texas. Per comments in the company’s latest quarterly earnings report, the wire manufacturer’s expansion will be carried out in two phases, with the first phase beginning late in the first quarter of 2020.

Phase 1 will include a new 720,000-sq-ft facility on the north end of Encore’s existing campus, located at 1329 Millwood Road in McKinney. “The facility will act as a service center, modernizing our logistics to allow for increased throughput and provide the bandwidth necessary to capture incremental sales volumes,” the report stated.

Phase one will allow Encore to compete at a higher level in the marketplace while strengthening its industry-leading customer service and order fill rates, per the information. Construction on phase one is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021. Following shortly after, phase two will focus on repurposing Encore’s existing distribution center by expanding its manufacturing capacity significantly and extending its market reach. The second phase is anticipated to be complete in 2022.

“This is an exciting time for Encore’s employees, customers and stakeholders,” Encore Chairman, President and CEO Daniel L. Jones said in the report. “We’ve been under construction since inception, and we continue to grow today. Our two-phase expansion plans will extend our reach and increase manufacturing capacity to meet the growing needs of our customers.”

Encore Wire’s legacy traces back to its launching in 1989, as a 68,000-sq-ft industrial warehouse building in McKinney, Texas. “With support and dedication from our employees, our customers and our community, we have grown to over 2 million square feet under roof and stretch across 425 acres. Today, Encore Wire is a leading manufacturer of copper and aluminum residential, commercial and industrial building wire.”

LS C&S has won a turnkey contract valued at approximately $85 million for a submarine cable project to connect Bahrain’s tourist islands. 

A press release said that Bahrain EWA (Electricity & Water Authority) plans to run 25 km of power cable between the main islands of Bahrain southeast to the Hawar Islands, which are known as a “go to” destination for divers. The Bahrain government wants to develop the area as a tourist complex, so it plans to access electricity from the main island rather than build a power plant on one of the smaller islands.

Saudi-based ALGIHAZ Contracting Co. is the primary project contractor. LS C&S will take charge of the submarine cable portion, with the project scheduled to be completed in September 2021. The project was supported by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and there was fierce competition for the contract by major cable makers in Europe and Japan. LS C&S said in the release that its experience of global long-distance projects, such as Jeju-Jindo Island power grid (113 km), Qatar (100 km), Canada (35 km) and the U.S. (30 km), “greatly helped the company win the contract.”

“As the power grid is also closely related to national security and social unrest due to blackout, economic thinking alone will not determine suppliers,” LS C&S President and CEO Roe-hyun Myung said. “LS C&S is capitalizing on its products and construction competency to expand its advance into overseas and increasing domestic investments as well.”

The release also said that LS C&S dominated the Taiwanese submarine cable market, worth $420 million in 2019, and that the business has already begun to grow in earnest. “So, the company invested about $42 million in Donghae, Gangwon-do, and plans to complete a second plant this coming March.”

Messe Düsseldorf has rescheduled the world's largest wire and cable industry trade show, postponed because of the Coronavirus, to Dec. 7-11, 2020.

"It is very important for us to inform you of this new date as soon as possible in order to ensure planning security for the entire industry and its partners," said Wolfram N. Diener, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. "Our customers and partners can trust us to act calmly and responsibly even in difficult situations."

Existing contracts with Messe Düsseldorf remain valid for the new date, visitor tickets already purchased remain valid as well. 2,600 exhibitors in 15 halls are expected to present their latest machinery and equipment for wire and tube production, processing and finishing, end products, products and services.

The Düsseldorf hotel industry is also sending out an important signal through its umbrella organisation DEHOGA (Trade Association for the Hospitality Industry): "We appeal to our members and the entire industry to be flexible when it comes to rebooking by exhibitors and visitors. The Düsseldorf trade fairs such as wire and Tube play an enormously important role for the city, the hotel industry and the catering trade. It would be counterproductive not to show goodwill in this situation,” as both DEHOGA-Representatives Giuseppe Saitta (Chairman Düsseldorf/District Group Rhein-Kreis Neuss) and Rolf D. Steinert (Düsseldorf/Rhein-Kreis Neuss Hotels and Tourism Group) emphasize.  

Current information can be found in the Internet portals at: www.wire.de and www.Tube.de.

NKT announced that it has signed a supplier agreement with Dogger Bank Wind Farms Creyke Beck A and Creyke Beck B site to delivery and install high-voltage DC on- and offshore export cable systems.

A press release said that the order calls for NKT to provide 4×175 km of 320 kV DC offshore export power cables, and approximately 4×32 km of 320 kV DC onshore export power cables. Production of the power cable will start at the end of this year at its plant in Karlskrona, Sweden. The contract was valued at approximately 360 million euros. The agreement “will contribute positively to the medium voltage cables market trends owing to its supply of green energy to approximately 3 million households in the U.K.”

“I am excited that our long-term customers of Equinor and SSE have selected NKT as turnkey provider of the cable systems for the Dogger Bank Wind Farms Creyke Beck A/B and recognize us as a high-voltage DC technology partner in the market,” said NKT President and CEO Alexander Kara. “I am pleased to observe the continued European focus on increasing the use of renewable energy sources, which is a trend from which NKT sees good growth opportunities.”

The company also reports that it has qualified its 525 kV high-voltage DC power cable for the German corridor projects, which it notes represents “a milestone in the European green energy transformation.”

A press release said that certification of the company’s XLPE underground power cable enables it to be used for coming high-voltage DC corridor projects in Germany. These projects constitute a vital step in the country’s transition of its energy supply to come from renewable sources, a strategy called “Energiewende,” Germany’s long-term strategy for switching to renewable energies by 2050. That initiative will require long-distance power transmission lines to transport renewable energy.

The certification process was not a quick one. The cable underwent more than a year of testing by an external power cable test institute. The resulting certification adds to the Cigre qualification earned in 2014 when NKT first launched the world’s first 525 kV XLPE power cable.
The cable, which keeps transmission losses low, will be manufactured at NKT’s high-voltage plants in Germany and Sweden, solely using “green” electricity. The local presence “will also ensure short transportation distances to the HVDC corridors and thereby minimize the total carbon footprint.”