POSCO to resume typhoon-stalled furnaces operations

POSCO plans to resume operations of its Pohang furnaces as early as Tuesday. The operations of furnaces were previously halted due to heavy rain.

According to POSCO on Tuesday, the company will restart the Furnace 4 operations, and all three furnaces, including the Furnace 4 restarted on 10, will be in normal operation mode. At Pohang Iron& Steel site, three furnaces – Furnaces 2-4 are currently installed, except Furnace 1, which operations stopped late last year. The company said the equipment restoration schedule for steel making (filtering impurities from the iron mold) is confirmed to process iron mold. Thus there should be no issue with re-starting the operations.

Yet, it has not been confirmed when the company can use the rolling equipment (steel process per its use) again, which suffered the most damage from the rain, because the work for drainage and mud cleaning is still ongoing. “We will increase the capacity of Gwangyang Iron & Steel site to its maximum level, and kick off their emergency response TF to ensure a faster response, starting tomorrow,” POSCO said.

POSCO’s Pohang facility has been struggling with manufacturing since last Tuesday; the day typhoon ‘Hinnamno’ affected the Korean Peninsula. The damages to the facility are estimated at 50 billion won a day, as most of the plant has been flooded and electricity has been cut.

According to the company, an average of 8,000 per day and 30,000 people worked to restore the facility during the Chuseok holidays. During the holidays, a job posting for POSCO made by employment agencies, that offers a daily wage of 1.25 million won for the restoration, attracted much attention.


Gun-Huk Lee gun@donga.com