December 02, 2008

Tangshan to supply SBQ plates to Hyundai Heavy Industries

Tangshan Steel Group has recently signed a cooperation agreement with Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries that promises joint technology research and stable supplies of ship building quality plates to Hyundai Heavy Industries, the biggest ship builder in the world.

The SBQ plates will be supplied from Hebei based Tangshang Steel Group subsidiary, Tangshan Plate Company, a 51:49 JV between Shenzhen listed Tangshan Steel Co and privately owned Hebei Wenfeng Steel.

According to an Hyundai Heavy Industries Shanghai official the exact tonnage that Tangshan Plate will supply is not yet determined because the firm has only just entered Hyundai Heavy Industry’s ship plate supply chain with the September 13th 2007 agreement and many details are still to be discussed.

She added that Hyundai Heavy Industries is rapidly stepping up ship plate purchasing in China and the builder is very keen to introduce new Chinese suppliers. This year, Hyundai Heavy Industries is planning to purchase 680,000 tonnes to 730,000 tonnes of ship plate from China.

A Tangshan Plate official said that Tangshang Plate commissioned its first plate line in mid August 2006 that boasts a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year or 125,000 tonnes per months. In August it produced about 130,000 tonnes including about 40,000 tonnes of ship plate. Meanwhile, the company is currently building another 3,500mm plate mill with a matching 120 tonnes converter that is expected to be commissioned late 2008 and will double Tangshang Plate capacity. A third plate rolling line of 2 million tonnes per year capacity is in Tangshan Plate's construction plan, but details such as width and the construction schedule are currently unavailable.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)