Differs on Time Required for Recovery
POSCO is at odds with the government over the recovery of the typhoon-hit hot-rolled steel sheet manufacturing lines at Pohang Works.
The company said in a statement on Sept. 15 that it plans to complete the restoration of the hot-rolled steel sheet manufacturing lines within three months. “We will finish drainage and mud removal work as soon as possible, and comprehensively calculate our damage. We will announce the results of the damage calculation and a restoration plan as early as this week.”
This differs from the position of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy disclosed by Vice Minister Jang Young-jin on Sept. 14. “We think that it will take six months or more for the normalization of the second hot-rolled steel mill,” Jang said.
POSCO said it is checking items at each plant that require urgent order placement, such as hydraulic tanks, reducers, transformers, and electric motors, and is in discussion with facility suppliers for on-site inspection of core facilities.
“POSCO's recovery plan can be achieved if it can bring rolling process transformers from Gwangyang Works to Pohang Works,” said a ministry official. “This is the best-case scenario, but we don’t know what will happen actually, and private sector experts think that it will take more than six months for the plant to recover.”
Some officials at Pohang Works say that it may take one to two years for the rolling facility to be completely restored and roll out products normally. Some of the machinery which became obsolete due to water damage was imported from overseas, so it takes a long time to manufacture and transport it, they said.
They suspect that POSCO Group chairman Choi Jung-woo and other top executives are trying to shorten the restoration period in order to preserve their positions.
POSCO said that drainage and mud removal work was in progress at the rolling line, and 94 percent of the drainage work and 37 percent of the power supply have already been completed.