Steel returns to Sparrows Point with new JD Fields HDM Spiralweld plant

With direct access to the Port of Baltimore and breakbulk logistics, the site is primed to move steel efficiently.

The project is set to receive $1.8 million in public support and promises to bring 150 high-skilled jobs to the region.

Set to open in early 2027, the East Coast expansion marks JD Fields’ first move beyond its Houston headquarters, backed by Turkish partner HDM Steel Pipe.

“JD Fields HDM Spiralweld Mill has nearly four decades of experience in steel distribution, fabrication and manufacturing, and we are excited to expand our operations to the East Coast,” said Joel S. Showalter, VP and CFO of JD Fields & Co.

JD Fields and HDM began their partnership in 2022 when they opened another spiralweld pipe piling mill in Houston.

“We look forward to joining the Baltimore community and Tradepoint Atlantic. This new facility will allow us to continue providing value for our customers,” Showalter added.

Sparrows Point is now Tradepoint Atlantic

Tradepoint Atlantic is the new name of the area that was once occupied by the world’s largest steel mill – Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point steel mill and shipbuilding yard.

The project revives steel manufacturing at the site, where steel was first made in 1889. But iron and steelmaking operations ceased at Sparrows Point in June 2012. Two years later, Tradepoint Atlantic was established to revitalize the 3,300-acre industrial site. It now operates as a global intermodal logistics hub.

“There are those who said that once the Bethlehem Steel plant closed down, steel would never come back to Baltimore,” stated Maryland Governor Wes Moore. “Well, today, we don’t just prove the doubters wrong, we prove the dreamers right.”

US Wind still working to start Sparrows Point Steel

This is not the first steel project, however, planned for the East Coast industrial site since steelmaking ended in 2012.

In 2021, US Wind announced it would develop 90 waterfront acres at Tradepoint Atlantic into a wind deployment hub. The plans included a fabrication plant for offshore wind components dubbed Sparrows Point Steel.

US Wind’s project received $47.4 million in federal funding in 2023 under President Joe Biden’s infrastructure investment bill. However, just weeks ago, at the end of August, the Trump regime withdrew the funding, reneging on $679 million in previously approved grants for infrastructure projects around the country.

Still, US Wind has vowed to move forward with the project, according to Maryland Matters.

Once up and running, Sparrows Point Steel will produce monopile foundations for US Wind’s first two planned offshore wind projects in Maryland. The site will roll-bend, weld, paint, and coat steel plates, producing monopiles up to 39 feet in diameter and up to 400 feet in length. US Wind says a single year of production will consume 110,000 short tons of steel plate.