Market Segment
August 13, 2021
USS Plans Maintenance Outage at Gary Works' No. 6
Written by David Schollaert
Integrated steelmaker U.S. Steel is taking the No. 6 blast furnace at its Gary Works steel mill offline for 38 days beginning at the end of next month, a company spokesperson confirmed to Steel Market Update.
The planned maintenance outage at its Indiana facility is scheduled for Sept. 30 and should run through Nov. 9. This is the first lengthier outage to the furnace since it was idled for two months because of COVID-19-related closures in April 2020.
The scope of work to the 1.23-million-ton-per-year furnace includes repairs and replacement of the hot blast system and furnace top equipment, said the U.S. Steel spokesperson.
This extensive outage to No. 6 coincides with U.S. Steel’s week-long maintenance program scheduled for its Big River Steel operations during Q4.
This latest outage enters the queue of fourth-quarter maintenance programs across North American steelmakers. In addition to U.S. Steel’s planned outages, Cleveland-Cliffs’ Indiana Harbor No. 7 blast furnace will be offline for approximately 45 days, while Nucor’s Gallatin, Ky., flat-rolled mill will undergo maintenance on its electric-arc furnace for roughly 30 days at the end of November.
By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com
