The contract is one of the biggest every booked by ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik since 2000. It comprises the engineering, delivery and installation of the jetty conveyors and all the other 37 conveyor belts and transfer towers, the five bucket-wheel stackers/reclaimers (S/Rs) as well as the entire electrical engineering down to commissioning. Alongside the lead Brazilian company ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik Latino Americana, others sharing in the project are ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik, St. Ingbert, Germany, plus ThyssenKrupp Robins, Denver, USA. At peak construction periods, up to 1,500 workers will be employed on site on behalf of ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik.

Iron ore, coal, coke, pellets and additives will be conveyer belted to the storage yards and then by the S/R machines reclaimed and conveyed onward to the blast furnaces. The raw material will be moved along nine different routes many of which to be used concurrently.

The raw material storage site including the conveyors from the jetty of the company’s own port, covers an area of 750,000 m². The ship offloading station is connected to dry land by two 6-km conveyors.

The conveyor belts and transfer towers weighing a total 16,000 t, will be built in Brazil for shipment and assembly as work progresses. The five large S/R machines for the storage area are being built in China and fitted with mechanical and electrical components sourced from Europe, USA, and Brazil. The units will be delivered as major assemblies broken down into several shipments. All the electrical and control systems are being supplied via ThyssenKrupp Robins and largely sourced from the local Brazil market.

ThyssenKrupp Fördertechnik GmbH is a company of ThyssenKrupp Technologies AG. The company engineers and builds plants and systems for mining and processing, handling and transporting raw materials and minerals worldwide. This broad spectrum of capabilities is backed by comprehensive expertise acquired over many decades in close cooperation with customers. More than 2,300 employees in Germany and abroad assure expert advisory, planning, engineering, design, production, installation, commissioning and after-sales services. The Mining unit is a source of advanced technology and systems for open-pit mining operations. The Processing unit focuses on plant and machinery used in crushing, screening, grinding, drying and filtering plant while Materials Handling’s specialty is conveyor systems and bulk handling machines.

ThyssenKrupp Steel AG is the parent and largest single operating company of the ThyssenKrupp Group’s Steel segment which concentrates on the production of high-grade flat products made from quality steel and on providing product-related services. ThyssenKrupp Steel employs a workforce of around 38,000 and in fiscal 2005/06 generated sales in excess of €10.7 billion. The new Brazilian steel plant will turn out annually five million t of crude steel and will have its own seaport from where the slabs can be shipped to Europe and North America. The plant is being engineered to state-of-the-art technology and the most stringent environmental standards.