Coke shipment keeps British Steel's blast furnaces burning
The UK Government confirms the arrival of a raw materials shipment.
Steelmaking in Scunthorpe will continue as a shipment of more than 55,000t of blast furnace coke arrived over the weekend from Australia. Specifically from Bluescope Steel's plant at Immingham Bulk Terminal.
Another shipment of over 66,000t of iron ore pelletes and 27,000t of iron ore fines is due to arrive from Sweden this week. They have been paid for directly by the government using existing budgets.
British Steel has also confirmed two more leadership appointments, an interim Chief Operating Officer and HR Director, who both have more than 30 years experience in the steel industry.
British Steel Interim CEO Allan Bell says, 'We’ve successfully secured the raw materials we need to keep the blast furnaces running, meaning our production of steel can continue. We would not be here today without the hard work and dedication of our specialist procurement, technical and operational teams who have worked tirelessly on short timescales to secure the required raw materials.'
The latest delivery oensures both blast furnaces at Scunthorpe can remain operational and gives assurance to around 3,000 employees at the steelworks.
It comes after British Steel announced a consultation on staff reduncies in March by its owners Jingye, and confirmed it would keep both blast furnaces running.
The government says it is continuing to focus on the long-term future of British Steel with private sector investment, working with a range of third parties on potential options.
