Three blast furnaces at Posco's Pohang steel mill resume operations

Posco Holdings Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, second from right, checks the steelmaker's steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, on Monday. [POSCO]

All three blast furnaces at Posco's Pohang steel mill resumed full operations Tuesday, a week after they were shut down due to flooding caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor.

The steelmaker said Tuesday furnaces No. 2 and 4 were completely restored Monday, while furnace No. 3 resumed operations on Sept. 10. The three halted operations last week for the first time in the factory's 49-year history.

A total of 30,000 employees and staff were mobilized to the plant during the Chuseok holidays for the restoration process. Officials and equipment from the North Gyeongsang provincial office and the Republic of Korea's Marine Corps were also sent.

Four of seven converters resumed operations, while four of eight casting facilities started running Tuesday.

The rolling facilities, however, are still at a halt. The facilities were hit hardest by the heavy rain.

"In the case of the rolling facilities, around 80 percent of the flood water was drained as of Tuesday," Posco said. "But the exact resumption date [of operations] and amount of damage will be announced later when underground facilities are completely restored."

Posco launched a special team Tuesday to handle the shipment of stock products to stabilize supply. Urgent orders will be handled in Gwangyang steel mill in South Jeolla.

Analyst Park Hyun-wook from Hyundai Motor Securities predicted that the shutdown caused 40 billion won ($28 million) of losses for the company’s sales every day the factory was closed. The Pohang steel mill logged sales of 18.5 trillion won last year, which accounted for 24.2 percent of total sales for Posco Holdings, the parent of Posco.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]