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BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from
BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
in 2002.


History

BlueScope was formed when
BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueScope on 17 November 2003. Early in 2004, BlueScope merged with the American firm Butler Manufacturing. Such a merger was considered a strategic move for both companies as they were similar in character and non-overlapping in the markets they operated in, such that acquisition of Butler, based in Kansas City, Missouri, would provide BlueScope with access to United States and Chinese markets. Butler was founded in 1901, operated in sixteen countries and focused on non-residential building and building component construction. At the time of the merger, Butler had a dozen production facilities across the United States, China and Mexico. In 2007, the company acquired four companies consisting of most of the United States holdings of the Argentinian firm Ternium, those being Steelscape, ASC Profiles, Varco Pruden Buildings; and Metl-Span, which was acquired by
NCI Building Systems NCI Building Systems, Inc. merged with Ply Gem Parent, LLC in November 2018. In April 2019, the newly-formed company announced that it would officially operate as Cornerstone Building Brands, headquartered in Cary, North Carolina. Cornerstone Buil ...
Part 2 of the article appears at https://newspapers.com/clip/42441447/australian_firm_buys_steelscape_part_2/ . in 2012. The four companies had been held by the Mexican Grupo IMSA prior to their purchase by Ternium. Steelscape originated in 1996 as BHP Coated Steel and was originally owned by BlueScope. In March 2012 a new coated steel manufacturing plant was inaugurated in Jamshedpur,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. In February 2014, BlueScope purchased Orrcon Steel from
Hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...
. Its products included RHS, SHS and CHS structural tubular steel, hot-rolled structural steel and fencing, roofing and building accessories. Because of lower energy prices in the United States than in Australia, BlueScope in 2019 decided to expand its investment in America by $1 billion.


Operations

The corporate headquarters are located at 120 Collins Street, Melbourne. The company has 16,000 personnel. Its largest operating plant, an integrated steelworks, is located at
Port Kembla, New South Wales Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 8 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex (one of the largest in Australia), a small harbour foreshore nature reserve ...
. In October 2011, No.6 Blast furnace, one of two at Port Kembla, was shut down, reducing the plant's production capacity by 50% after the company decided to exit the export market. Major products include steel slab, hot rolled coil, steel plate, automotive steel,
galvanised Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged ...
steel,
corrugated galvanised iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a ...
, Zincalume brand (55% aluminium, 43.5%
zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, 1.5% silicon) coated steel, and Colorbond brand pre-painted steel. Tinplate production ceased in March 2007. Orrcon Steel supplies steel, tube and pipe to steel fabricators, furniture and trailer body manufacturers, housing and construction companies and pipeline and infrastructure engineering firms. It has distribution centres in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.


Carbon footprint

BlueScope reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 30 June 2020 at 10,280 Kt (-120 /-1.2% y-o-y).Alt URL
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Controversy

In August 2019, the
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trad ...
launched a civil case against BlueScope and a former executive for engaging in
cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...
conduct, alleging that they tried to induce competitors to enter contracts to fix prices for flat steel products between 2013 and 2014. BlueScope denied the allegations, stating "we do not believe that BlueScope, or any current or former employees, have engaged in cartel conduct". In December 2020, the former executive was sentenced to eight months imprisonment and fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to obstructing the investigation, inciting two employees to give false information. On 6 May 2020, a 59-year-old man was killed at BlueScope's Port Kembla facility after becoming trapped between a car and a crane, resulting in the site being temporarily shut. On 14 May 2020, BlueScope was the subject of a cyberattack that forced its production systems to be temporarily halted company-wide after ransomware was discovered in one of its systems. In July 2020, BlueScope was fined $30,000 by the
New South Wales Environment Protection Authority The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is an independent statutory authority that sits in the Environment portfolio as part of the Planning, Industry and Environment cluster. The NSW EPA was established as an independent governing Board ...
for failing to comply with dioxin air emission limits on six occasions between March and April 2020. In response, BlueScope completed air emissions modelling and engaged an independent consultant to undertake a health assessment of the elevated emissions.


Major manufacturing facilities

*
Port Kembla, New South Wales Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 8 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex (one of the largest in Australia), a small harbour foreshore nature reserve ...
* Western Port in
Hastings, Victoria Hastings is a town on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Hastings recorded a population of ...
*
New Zealand Steel New Zealand Steel Limited is the owner of the Glenbrook Steel Mill, the steel mill located 40 kilometres south of Auckland, in Glenbrook, New Zealand. The mill was constructed in 1968 and began producing steel products in 1969. Currently, the ...
, Glenbrook * Orrcon Brisbane Mill, Salisbury, Queensland * Orrcon Precision Tubing Mill, Adelaide,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
Finished products are transported around Australia by rail freight operator Pacific National. In February 2007 Pacific National secured Australia's largest ever rail freight contract ($1 billion) with BlueScope Steel and OneSteel, to carry approximately three million tonnes of steel product each year for seven years. The contract was renewed for a further seven years from January 2015. In January 2022, Qube Holdings and SCT Logistics will take over from Pacific National.SCT confirmed for Bluescope steel east-west contract, Qube wins north-south work '' Railway Digest'' June 2020 page 6


References


External links


Company website
{{Authority control BHP Companies based in Melbourne Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Multinational companies headquartered in Australia Manufacturing companies established in 2002 Steel companies of Australia 2002 establishments in Australia