Acciaierie d’Italia revives shipping fleet, Marcegaglia shows interest
Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI)’s special administration is resuming logistics operations and investing in the rehabilitation of the company’s shipping fleet. The goal is to improve the efficiency, reliability, and competitiveness of the steelmaker’s activities on the national and international markets, Kallanish learns from the company.
A mission to restore the most strategic ships has begun, with the Gemma vessel resuming navigation and commercial activity earlier this week. The ship had been stranded in Singapore for more than three years, since 2020. “Due to a lack of maintenance and expired class certificates, all five ships in the fleet, as well as the eight floating units, were both stationary and inactive. We quickly implemented a focused recovery plan, prioritising strategic units,” Angelo Colucci, ADI director of logistics, supply chain and maritime services, says in a note.
While other vessels are undergoing maintenance, the fleet’s flagship, the 30,000-tonne Ursa Minor, will set sail again this week. It will transport finished and semi-finished products, including coil, from Taranto to ADI’s northern Italian facilities via the port of Genoa.
Meanwhile, earlier this summer, representatives from trading company Steel Mont, Metinvest, Oman-based Vulcan Green Steel (VGS), and Canada’s Stelco conducted visits with a view to acquiring ADI’s mills in Genova, Novi Ligure, and Taranto. Marcegaglia, the Italian steelmaker and re-roller, has recently shown interest in participating in the race and may submit a letter of interest by 20 September, the submission deadline. According to an informed source, the re-roller may only be interested in parts of ADI’s assets, specifically the tube mills and one of the northern Italian re-rolling plants.
Unions are insisting the government keeps a shareholding in Acciaierie d’Italia to guarantee the steelmaker’s correct management. “This concrete monitoring activity is essential to avoid what happened in the past with ArcelorMittal, which was able to act undisturbed, in violation of agreements and rules, precisely because of an almost absent state,” the USB unions note.
ADI aims to produce between 1.9-2.2 million tonnes of steel this year. Based on the most recent update of the relaunch plan communicated to workers, the special commissioners have set a target to restart blast furnace No.1 in October. In 2025, around January or February, BF No.2 will also be restarted. Production will be assured by BFs Nos.1, 2, and 4 by the first quarter of 2026. In 2025, the plant is projected to reach a capacity of 4.5-5m t/y.
Taranto is currently utilising BF. No 4 for operations. BF. No.5 has been inactive for a number of years, while Nos.1 and 2 ceased production a few months ago.
Natalia Capra France
Acciaierie d’Italia aims for Taranto production restart in 2026
Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI)’s special commissioners aim to operate the Taranto steelworks with blast furnaces no.1, 2 and 4 in the first quarter of 2026, with the relaunch plan set to further develop until mid-2026, Kallanish learns from sources close to the company.
Over the coming months, maintenance work will be implemented on BF no.1 and 2, the special commissioners said at a meeting with authorities and unions in Rome last week. During the meeting, the tender for the sale of the assets was presented, with the goal of finalising the operation within the year. The tender incorporates decarbonisation obligations and is centred on maximising employment levels and attracting long-term investors who can bring benefits to local areas and communities.
“Acciaierie d’Italia … will diligently monitor the obligations undertaken by buyers in the industrial plan, as mandated by law,” the firm says in a note. The commissioners also emphasised that the temporary layoff scheme for ADI workers is necessary to cut costs in preparation for the restart. “The implementation of social safety nets … aims to gradually reduce the number of affected workers, starting with 4,700 in the initial phase, in line with the progress of the industrial plan until its completion,” the note concludes.
Meanwhile, potential buyers, including a local re-roller, visited ADI’s Novi Liguri coil processing subsidiary last week. Authorities are exploring the possibility of splitting up the steelmaker and selling its assets to various buyers. At present, Taranto is producing at a significantly slow pace using only BF no.4.
Natalia Capra France
Acciaierie d’Italia low output impacts EU steel availability: Assofermet
The prolonged ownership crisis at Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) and its lower output may lead to a structural shortage of flat steel products, not only in Italy but also at a European level, Italian steel trade association Assofermet warns.
“The quality products available thanks to Taranto production are very often not available within the EU perimeter. Buyers are therefore forced to turn mainly to Asian steel mills, facing import restrictions which increase costs … The crisis at ADI is part of an already very complicated context for the steel sector,” Assofermet says in a document sent to Kallanish.
EU safeguard measures result in a decrease in the quantity of steel imported into the EU. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will meanwhile introduce a tax on goods coming from territories outside the EU from 2026. The result will be an inevitable increase in the cost of steel products available in the EU.
“The national [Italian] manufacturing sector’s growth needs a primary steel industry, upstream of the supply chain, that can support it with the necessary quantity of steel,” comments president of Assofermet’s flat steel division Paolo Sangoi.
ADI’s production crisis is happening at a time of low steel availability in Italy and Europe. “Steel output is decreasing: the production levels of 2012, the year of the seizure of the hot-end area of the Taranto plant, have not been reached over the past ten years … With declining steel production and the rising cost of steel, it is essential to preserve the industrial value of the plant,” Assofermet concludes.
ADI, the joint venture between state company Invitalia and ArcelorMittal, registered steel output below 3 million tonnes in 2023, according to preliminary data. This is below the shareholders’ initial objective of 4mt in 2023 and 5mt target in 2024.
ArcelorMittal says it is open to an amicable solution to the conflict with authorities, and prepared to give up its stake to partner Invitalia for a price that “is only a fraction” of the company’s investment into ADI since 2018. While Invitalia refused ArcelorMittal’s recent offer, the steelmaking group assures it is still on the table (see Kallanish passim).
Natalia Capra France
