ArcelorMittal to idle Taranto’s equipment

ArcelorMittal Italia’s new chief executive Lucia Morselli has informed unions of the plan to shut down equipment of the former Ilva steelmaking plant in Taranto.

A union source confirms to Kallanish that blast furnace no.2 will be idled on 13 December. Blast furnaces no.1 and 4 are scheduled to shut down on 15 January and 30 December respectively. Strip mill no.2 will be idled on 26 November, while strip mill no.1 is currently not working. When all blast furnaces are idled, power plants 2 and 3 together with the coke plants will also be shut down. Blast furnaces no.3 and 5 have been idled for several years.

ArcelorMittal confirmed the above dates to Kallanish.

When ArcelorMittal started the procedure to officially withdraw from the Ilva purchase at the beginning of November, “…it asked the Special Commissioner to take back responsibility for Ilva’s operations and employees within 30 days from the receipt of the withdrawal letter,” a source close to the company confirmed earlier this month.

A meeting between Lucia Morselli, trade unions and the Ministry of Economic Development (Mise) is scheduled for 15 November in Rome.