British Steel has regained control of the Immingham Bulk Terminal (IBT) two years after losing its operations rights.
The company said in a press release on August 3 that the Associated British Ports (ABP), UK’s largest port operator, ran operations during the past two years. However, British Steel’s new owner the Jingye Group was regaining control of the strategic asset to strengthen the steelmaker’s supply chain.
IBT receives the steelmaker’s iron ore, coke, and coal shipments for the Scunthorpe mill site and can manage up to 9mn mt of raw material annually.
British Steel indicated that its strategic partnership with ABP will continue broadly and under the new operational agreement, 36 IBT employees will be transferred to British Steel.
ABP took over the ownership of IBT in November 2018 and committed an investment of £65mn ($87mn) in new cranes, equipment, and infrastructure. Around 45 British Steel employees transferred to IBT at the time. At the time, the terminal managed 5.5mn mt of bulk raw materials cargoes destined for British Steel’s Scunthorpe.
The partnership allowed British Steel to focus on core steelmaking operations during a period of realignment, the company said in its statement.
($1=£0.75)