Soo Today reported that leading Canadian steel maker Algoma Steel's direct strip production complex was hit recently by a COVID outbreak that coughed millions of dollars from the steelmaker's bottom line. Ravaged by coronavirus, the company had trouble during the past quarter finding enough staff to operate the pride and joy of local steelmaking. Algoma Steel's CEO Mr Michael Garcia told investors “Our community was not immune to the impacts of COVID. During the quarter we experienced a concentrated outbreak, which impacted the DSPC.”He added “We're implementing various measures to address labor availability, including cross-training more employees to better handle that absenteeism event.”The COVID outbreak was just one part of a triple whammy of production gremlins that wounded Algoma during the last quarter. The others were software problems encountered during a CAD 120 million plate mill modernization and an August fire at one of the company's two coal conveyors. Algoma's Chief Financial Officer Mr Rajat Marwah said the triumvirate of production woes cost the company a total of USD 130 million. Mr Marwah attributed about 50% (USD 65 million) of the USD 130 million drag on the plate mill commissioning problems, 30% to the coke oven fire (CAD 39 million) and 20% (CAD 26 million) to the COVID outbreak at the steel mill.
Soo Today reported that leading Canadian steel maker Algoma Steel's direct strip production complex was hit recently by a COVID outbreak that coughed millions of dollars from the steelmaker's bottom line. Ravaged by coronavirus, the company had trouble during the past quarter finding enough staff to operate the pride and joy of local steelmaking. Algoma Steel's CEO Mr Michael Garcia told investors “Our community was not immune to the impacts of COVID. During the quarter we experienced a concentrated outbreak, which impacted the DSPC.”He added “We're implementing various measures to address labor availability, including cross-training more employees to better handle that absenteeism event.”The COVID outbreak was just one part of a triple whammy of production gremlins that wounded Algoma during the last quarter. The others were software problems encountered during a CAD 120 million plate mill modernization and an August fire at one of the company's two coal conveyors. Algoma's Chief Financial Officer Mr Rajat Marwah said the triumvirate of production woes cost the company a total of USD 130 million. Mr Marwah attributed about 50% (USD 65 million) of the USD 130 million drag on the plate mill commissioning problems, 30% to the coke oven fire (CAD 39 million) and 20% (CAD 26 million) to the COVID outbreak at the steel mill.
