BF restart – The example of Bremen

The restart of the blast furnace 3 after its relining in 2008 has been one of the greatest events at our Bremen site, Germany, in the last decade. In November 2007, the GMB of ArcelorMittal approved the project and the investment of 64 million euros. In order to complete the relining, the blast furnace 3 had been stopped by the end of June 2008. The relining was completed by November 2008 – just before the outbreak of the global economic crisis…

The operation start of the blast furnace 3 was initially planned for December 2008. In the course of the economic crisis, it had to be postponed, so the blast furnace 3 could only be restarted in September 2009.

“I am very proud of what we have managed here! All colleagues and partners did an excellent job and we succeeded in finishing this huge project without having a single accident,” said Jörn Pufpaff, head of the blast furnace department.

The relined blast furnace 3 will help to secure hundreds of jobs at the mill. Without this, the furnace would have been decommissioned, but the high reliability has argued in its favour.

“The future of the site still depends on reaching the cost reduction and succeeding in im-provement projects. Reaching these goals will secure the profitability of the site in the long term,” said Robrecht Himpe, CEO of Flat Carbon Europe, at the start-up ceremony in September 2009.

Check out a video on the Bremen restart on STAHLtv (in German)

Author: Dirk Helm, Communications, ArcelorMittal Bremen