US Steel Pittsburg California cold rolling mill closure

[Robert R]

A quick look at the modern facility:

https://www.allsurplus.com/events/23650

This is one of the many US Steel plant closures over the last five years. The plant was established in 1910 and includes over 1000 acres of land with 80 acres under roof. The operation from 1986 onward included a 50-50 partnership with POSCO steel. The companies invested over $500 million in upgrading the mill.

USS - UPI - History steel finishing plant

Since 1910, UPI has adapted to the varying needs of the marketplace, always with an eye toward better business, better service, and becoming a better partner to our customers.

www.ussupi.com

In 2020 US Steel bought out POSCO's share of the partnership. They then shut the facility down.

U.S. Steel Buys Remaining Shares of USS-POSCO - Metal Center News

U.S. Steel has acquired the remaining 50 percent of the shares of USS-POSCO Industries from POSCO-California Corp. UPI had been a 50-50 joint venture with South Korea's POSCO Industries.

www.metalcenternews.com

It appears that a late model stand alone cold rolling mill cannot compete economically with a integrated continuous caster - rolling mill facility. This is surprising considering the current high prices for cold rolled products and the profits being generated by the major steel producers such as Nucor. It may also be that 1072 acres of Bay Area land is worth too much to be used as a steel mill.

This is the new integrated mill that is being built by US steel:https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/us-steel-breaks-ground-eaf-steel-mill-complex/

As usual there were some taxpayer subsides at play.

US Steel will expand its facility in Arkansas

The new jobs expected to be on-line in Mississippi County by 2024.

arktimes.com

 

[sfriedberg]

It may also be that 1072 acres of Bay Area land is worth too much to be used as a steel mill.

This. I can remember when you'd drive past citrus groves or olive groves in San Jose, Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga, etc. Those days are long, long gone.

 

[standardparts]

A few articles reporting the closure report rumors of Amazon buying it for a distribution center.

 

[rklopp]

Bummer. I helped investigate a huge fire they had at the USS/POSCO Pittsburg plant back in 2001. <https://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2001/06/18/story5.html> They used a rolling lube based on sheep tallow that deposited everywhere inside the mill enclosure. While wet as all get-out, a hydraulic leak and spray that got lit by a hot steel fragment provided the pilot flame that got the tallow burning. The heat was enough to warp the giant mill stand frames, requiring lots of machining in place to fix them. I remember walking around on top of the mill enclosure, which was made of steel plate, while it was till warm from the fire. The irony was that they were in the middle of installing a fire sprinkler system inside the mill enclosure at the time of the fire. It was a $50M loss. The mill ran on hot-rolled "band" around 3/16" to 1/4" thick delivered by ship from Korea. It was called the pickle line/tandem cold mill (PLTCM). The fixed the whole thing up and re-dedicated it in March 2002. I have a desk trophy from that event.

The adjacent mill building was used to store the evidence from the fire. It was once the wire mill at the site, and still had lots of line shafting in the ceiling, but no machinery. I believe in the mill's early days it had open hearth furnaces for steel production, and therefore must have had a blast furnace or two. The Bay Area also used to have a steel mill about where the Union City BART station is located. The mill was gone by the early 1980s, though there was still a liquid oxygen plant associated with it up until fairly recently. Apple maps satellite view seems to show it in the midst of demolition?!?

 

[adammil1]

Bummer. I helped investigate a huge fire they had at the USS/POSCO Pittsburg plant back in 2001. <https://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2001/06/18/story5.html> They used a rolling lube based on sheep tallow that deposited everywhere inside the mill enclosure. While wet as all get-out, a hydraulic leak and spray that got lit by a hot steel fragment provided the pilot flame that got the tallow burning. The heat was enough to warp the giant mill stand frames, requiring lots of machining in place to fix them. I remember walking around on top of the mill enclosure, which was made of steel plate, while it was till warm from the fire. The irony was that they were in the middle of installing a fire sprinkler system inside the mill enclosure at the time of the fire. It was a $50M loss. The mill ran on hot-rolled "band" around 3/16" to 1/4" thick delivered by ship from Korea. It was called the pickle line/tandem cold mill (PLTCM). The fixed the whole thing up and re-dedicated it in March 2002. I have a desk trophy from that event.

The adjacent mill building was used to store the evidence from the fire. It was once the wire mill at the site, and still had lots of line shafting in the ceiling, but no machinery. I believe in the mill's early days it had open hearth furnaces for steel production, and therefore must have had a blast furnace or two. The Bay Area also used to have a steel mill about where the Union City BART station is located. The mill was gone by the early 1980s, though there was still a liquid oxygen plant associated with it up until fairly recently. Apple maps satellite view seems to show it in the midst of demolition?!?

Sounds quite similar to this one!

https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/v4ipjj

Hydraulic leak fires can get out of hand real quick!

As nasty as the stuff is it's little wonder why aircraft all use Skydrol

 

[Bill D]

Is this the big blue building?
Bill D

 

[john.k]

Looks like the roof was insulated with flammables too..............a guy I knew who was into insurance fires always said hydraulic lines made his work too easy.

 

[ratbldr427]

We had one of our roll clamp trucks catch on fire a while ago. Lucky that no serious damage except the truck, all of it caught on camera. The strange thing was when the propane tank blew. Every tank I have seen that blew was ripped apart. This one had a hole in it that looked like it was shot from the inside, the metal was flared exactly like a rifle shot through plate.
No other ruptures. On camera there was no explosion like you would expect just a large plume of flame like lighting torch.