voestalpine direct reduction plant in Texas again fully operational after hurricane

8 September 2017 |

With wind speeds far in excess of 200 km/h and extensive flooding, Hurricane Harvey, which blew in at the end of August, was one of the greatest natural disasters in the history of the US state of Texas. Thanks to high construction and safety standards, the voestalpine plant in Corpus Christi, South Texas, withstood several days of the raging hurricane without having suffered significant damage. The direct reduction plant, the largest and most modern plant of its type in the world, was able to return to full operation yesterday, September 7. All 220 voestalpine Texas LLC employees are also safely back at their workplace. Last week the voestalpine Group promised emergency funding of USD 350,000 for employees and residents in the region who were affected by the hurricane.

Thanks to investments in storm and safety precautions during the construction phase, the voestalpine direct reduction plant in Texas was extremely well prepared for the worst-case scenario that occurred last week, and was able to return to regular operations around two weeks after the disaster. With respect to the impact of the hurricane on the plant, there was only slight damage to buildings and infrastructures, and this has been successfully remedied over the past week. The damage and production downtime are mostly covered by insurance policies, although realistically it cannot be assumed that all downtime and costs will actually be compensated in such extreme situations. Irrespective of this, the consequences of this occurrence will not noticeably impact capital market expectations for voestalpine earnings in the current business year.

Although the high safety standards at the plant have certainly proven their worth, I would also like to express our huge gratitude to our employees at the site in Texas for the way they managed during this emergency. It is due to their tireless efforts over the past few days that we have been able to return to normal operations in such a short time.

Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG

The voestalpine Group

In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology and capital goods group with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. This global Group comprises about 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using steel and other metals, the voestalpine Group is one of the leading partners of the automotive and consumer goods industries in Europe as well as the aerospace and oil & natural gas industries worldwide. voestalpine is also the world market leader in turnout technology, special rails, tool steel, and special sections. In the business year 2016/17, the Group generated revenue of EUR 11.3 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.54 billion; it had about 50,000 employees worldwide.