ArcelorMittal Liberia shipped 3Mt of iron ore between January and August 2013, almost doubling last year’s figures for the same period. The most recent monthly shipments figures for July 2013 show that production tripled last month compared with July 2012.
“We shipped out 516,000t of iron ore in July 2013, compared with 175,138t previous July”, said the company’s spokesperson Hesta Baker-Pearson. While ArcelorMittal Liberia’s goal is to produce 4Mt of iron ore each year during the direct-shipped ore (DSO) project, the company is now on track to produce 4.5Mt in 2013.
Between January and August 2012, the company shipped 1,896,000t of iron ore. Challenged by heavy rains, ArcelorMittal Liberia sought answers to help mitigate the effects of the rainy season on operations. While Liberia also experienced heavy rains in July 2013, the production rate tripled year-on-year. The CEO of ArcelorMittal Liberia pointed to the workers as the success of the company: “great teamwork from operations, support staff, contractors, daily hires and the communities are the reason for the great results”, he said.
In 2013, another major contributor towards reaching the company’s targets was the ability to carry out trans-shipments in the dry season. During trans-shipment, a smaller vessel is loaded for three or four rotations, transferring up to 60,000t of ore to Cape-size ocean-going vessels of up to 200,000t. These then transport the ore to customers in Europe and China.
The company is currently implementing phase two of its iron ore operations, where ArcelorMittal Liberia will begin ramping production up to 15Mt a year by 2015.
