Bhilai Steel Plant has in the calendar year 2011 exported 2.53 lakh tonnes of steel, representing a jump of 66 per cent against 1.59 lakh tonnes in 2010. It also made modest inroads with special steels in the global transport sector
Exports comprised of finished plates including high tensile plates, mild plates and ABS ship-building grade of plates. The destinations included Europe, Singapore, Taiwan, UAE and Syria. The BSP also exported rails to Sri Lanka, TMT bars to Sudan and billets and wire rods to Nepal.
Best ever loading of Export Rails at 14,000 tonnes was in fact achieved surpassing the previous best of 7,531 tonnes in the year 2002.
Variety of uses
The exports of special steel plates from Bhilai were for a variety of applications including manufacturing of ships and railway bogies. Thyssen of Germany sourced from BSP high-strength steel plates with low sulphur content and with dual certification (ABS & DNV) for manufacturing the hull of ocean-going ships.
Siemens Transport Systems bought plates with low temperature impact toughness to be used in manufacturing railway passenger bogies for its overseas clients. Both these categories of special steels were exported for the first time, SAIL sources said.
Meanwhile, BSP got a fresh export order from Sri Lanka for 14,500 tonnes of (60 kg a metre of ultra tensile strength) rails. These would be used for reconstruction of railway lines in the island nation.
As part of a $967.4-million India-assisted credit line to revive railway infrastructure, IRCON International Ltd, is rebuilding the tracks.