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| A POSCO employee works at the No. 3 blast furnace of the company's main steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of POSCO |
Steelmaker confident in supplying all types of products by year's end
By Park Jae-hyuk
POHANG, North Gyeongsang Province ― Red-hot slabs roll in the POSCO main steel mill's No. 1 hot strip plant, which was flooded after Typhoon Hinnamnor poured up to 500 millimeters of rain within a few hours two months ago onto the southeastern port city of Pohang.
The steel mill's No. 3 blast furnace, which was halted before the super storm hit, is also spewing 1,500-degree Celsius molten iron.
At the gigantic factory's site, it is difficult to find traces of the disaster that prompted the steelmaker to halt all operations at its main steel mill in September, for the first time in its half-century history.
Although POSCO has yet to resume production at the No. 2 hot strip plant ― which was hit hardest by the typhoon ― its workers have almost finished clearing away the mud and water in collaboration with Pohang residents, firefighters, soldiers and other companies here and overseas, with the aim of resuming the production line's operations by the end of this year.
POSCO's local rival, Hyundai Steel, also sent five torpedo ladle cars from its Dangjin steel mill in South Chungcheong Province. The vehicles are used to transfer molten iron from iron-making sections to steel-making sections.
"We will be able to resume supplying all types of products next month," Cheon Si-yeol, a POSCO executive in charge of process quality, said during a press conference at the company's Pohang headquarters, Wednesday.
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| Workers clean up the No. 2 hot strip plant of POSCO's main steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of POSCO |
POSCO's senior workers said that the management's unprecedented decision to halt operations completely made it possible to normalize the steel mill quicker than expected. They said the factory's important facilities were able to avoid heavier damage, such as explosions.
"As the management ordered the workers to cut the power supply before the flooding, I was able to fix the main motors for rolling mills, instead of waiting for more than a year for new motors," said Son Byung-rak, who joined POSCO in 1977 and has been recognized as a "master" by the company.
The steelmaker also emphasized that the flooding was an unavoidable natural disaster. It has faced criticism from some politicians that the company had taken insufficient countermeasures against the super typhoon.
A POSCO official told reporters at the riverside of Naeng Stream that the unprecedented rainfall led the stream to overflow, flooding the steel mill and its neighboring E-mart Pohang branch, which has remained closed ever since the disaster.
In addition, the company said it has prioritized safety, rather than speed, for its restoration work.
"The steel mill became more dangerous after the flooding, so we have tightened safety rules for high-risk work," Cheon said.
In order to minimize the inconvenience to its clients and to stabilize the market, POSCO has also continued supplying its steel products through its other steel mills in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, and in other countries, such as China and Indonesia. For materials, facilities and equipment suppliers hit by the typhoon, the steelmaker has extended loans at lowered interest rates.
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