Green light from the European Commission for the 320 million bridging loan for the former Ilva, managed by Acciaierie d’Italia in extraordinary administration and visits from potential investors will begin next week, but according to the unions «the problems all remain and with production you can’t go anywhere with just one blast furnace.”
The industrial plan is awaited but with production stuck at one million tonnes of steel per year there is a fear of not emerging from the quicksand. “We need at least three million, otherwise it won’t last, the ideal would be six”, explain the unions.
Government plans
The answer is one of the government commissioners, Giancarlo Quaranta, who knows the steel group very well having also been director of the Taranto site. «We have chosen to continue production anyway, even if minimal, but in a constant way, in order to be able to dedicate ourselves to recovering the environmental reliability, safety and productivity of the plants and then gradually increasing production», explains Quaranta.
In the period 2005-2008 Taranto produced almost 10 million tonnes, but the situation found by the commissioners in terms of the state and reliability of the plants and available raw materials is dramatic.
Induced in crisis
Meanwhile, later Cavalli’s abandonment (who lasted two months), the new general director of Acciaierie d’Italia arrives, Maurizio Saitta, who comes from Edison.
Around the factory, however, uncertainty still reigns. In particular on related transport, Casartigiani Puglia asks for clarity from the government and the extraordinary commissioners of Acciaierie d’Italia.
In particular, according to what the association reports, there would be a case of “discrimination” in the awarding of contracts. «It would seem – writes Casartigiani – that not all the road haulage companies that worked for Acciaierie d’Italia have received the proposal to renew the contract. Otherwise, all those whose contracts were renewed were not entrusted with the resulting tonnage. Although a new administration has taken over – declares Casartigiani – the rules and mechanisms of the sub-vection market appear to have remained unchanged”.
According to the regional coordinator of Casartigiani Stefano Castronuovo, «nothing has changed since February. Hauliers are still in trouble, at the mercy of uncertainties and without concrete hopes. According to what was announced by the Minister for Business Adolfo Urso, a second blast furnace will start up again in October and a third in the middle of next year, with the production objective of 6 million tons, the maximum limit achievable by the plant. By July, however, the government aims to release “the resources for the production restoration that the commissioners have given themselves”.
