Coal crisis hits SAIL's Bhilai steel plant output in Chhattisgarh

Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), an arm of state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL), has been reeling from a severe coking coal crisis that has reportedly affected the output in the company. The stock of imported coking coal in the BSP has been depleting fast since a fortnight.

A stranded ferry from the Visakhapatnam port is cited to be the reason for plunging it into a deep crisis.
 

A top SAIL official said a huge quantity of coking coal shipped from Australia is lying in the port while the railways is yet to provide the required rakes to transport the raw material to BSP.

The railways is reportedly not giving priority to SAIL’s unit that has further complicated the problem, the official added.

Railway officials could not be contacted but the spokesperson said BSP is trying to resolve the issue at the earliest.

“The officials have held a high-level meeting with railway officials and are constantly monitoring the loading and dispatch from the port,” the BSP spokesperson said.

Loading work has been increased in the port and efforts are on to ferry maximum number of rakes to the plant from the busiest Raipur-Visakhapatnam rail section, he added.

The rail section, besides bringing the raw material from the port, also transports coal extracted in Chhattisgarh to the ships for export. A major portion of the section is single line that makes it the busiest rail route where maximum traffic is freight.

The BSP spokesperson said there had been some improvement in the stock, and hopefully, the company would overcome the crisis in the next few days.

Imported coking coke plays an important role in the production of steel in the SAIL facility. The unit requires huge quantities of indigenous and foreign coal to prepare coke in the ovens every day. It uses 80 per cent foreign and only 20 per cent indigenous coal.

Coking gas is produced from coal in a coke oven and sent to furnaces, and mills. SAIL officials said that supply of coke and gas to the furnaces had been disrupted.

Subsequently, production has been affected in four of the six mills of the BSP. The rail mill, wire rod mill, merchant mill, and bar and rod mill have been affected. Only the universal rail mill and plate mill are running partially.