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THE North Steelworks of the Portuguese National Steel Company, Siderurgia Nacional EP, at Maia 35Km north-east of Oporto is a small steelworks which operates on the traditional processes for such sized plants of electric melting, continuous casting and rod and bar rolling from the cast billets.
The plant was constructed by Davy Ashmore International Ltd, the Stockton-on-Tees based Davy International company which specialises in the engineering and construction of large blast furnaces, basic oxygen steelmaking plants and high tonnage integrated iron and steelworks. Davy acted as main contractor for all the UK supply element and 50% of the supply came from local companies in Portugal.
The specifications for the local content were drawn up in the UK and Germany but the local subcontracts were placed directly by the Client hence, in addition to performing the chief function of design, engineering co-ordination and construction, Davy undertook overall management and control of the total operation throughout the course of the contract. The management function included: co-ordination of the activities of all subcontractors; preparation and issue of procedures; setting up lines of communication with subcontractors and project documentation; expediting and inspection; co-ordination of shipping; programming and reporting on design, procurement, manufacturing and site installation, supervision and co-ordination of site activities; assistance in recruitment and training of plant operators.
Raw Materials Handling and Steelmaking
The plant uses ferrous scrap as its raw material which is melted in a 70/75tonne electric arc furnace, cast in a four strand billet casting machine and the billets are rolled in a continuous rod, bar and merchant mill. The mill has an ultimate capacity of 300,000tonne/year of finished product. Production in Stage 1 of the plant development is approximately 180,000tonne/year.
The electric arc furnace and the continuous casting machine were designed and supplied by Demag, Germany, and the rolling mill by Davy-Loewy Ltd/ Hille Engineering, UK.
The open storage bay holds approximately 24,000tonnes of scrap and the total length allocated is 155m long and comprises one bay of 32.5m span serviced by two 10tonne magnet cranes.
Scrap is delivered in rail wagons, offloaded by the magnet cranes and deposited in compounds reserved for a particular grade of scrap. The same cranes are used for the loading of scrap into baskets placed on trailers. A...