Gwangyang Steelworks Achieves Milestone of 200 Million Tons in Cumulative Steel Product Export Shipments

Achieving Cumulative Export Shipments of 200 Million Tons in 34 Years Since the Completion of the First Phase in 1987
Simultaneously Enhancing Efficiency and Promoting Win-Win Growth with Partners Through 'Production-Shipment' System Improvement

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks announced on the 27th that it has achieved the remarkable milestone of cumulative export shipments of 200 million tons of steel products in about 34 years since it first exported steel products in 1987.

Gwangyang Steelworks began its initial shipment in May 1987 after completing the first phase of comprehensive construction, and as of the 23rd of this month, 34 years later, it has achieved cumulative export shipments of 200 million tons of steel products. When converted to length, this amount is approximately 18 million km, which is enough to circle the Earth 442 times. Currently, the total shipment volume combining domestic and export products reaches 497 million tons.

The achievement of 200 million tons in cumulative export shipments is significant in that it was reached earlier than initially expected by improving the shipment process to increase efficiency.

The product pier at Gwangyang Steelworks has established a handling system capable of 1.5 million tons per month with 16 unloading machines, and has exported steel products to various countries worldwide, including 50 million tons to China, 46 million tons to Southeast Asia, 28 million tons to Europe, and 20 million tons to the Americas. In particular, as the world’s leading automotive steel specialist steelworks, it supplies 5.2 million tons annually to renowned global automobile companies such as Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, and Toyota.

However, a chronic problem has been that more than 54% of cargo volume is concentrated at the end of the month, causing difficulties in the smooth transportation of export steel products. The Gwangyang Port Dockworkers’ Union (Chairman Jang Han-chae), responsible for handling product and raw material unloading at Gwangyang Steelworks, often had to rush unloading due to the surge in volume at month-end, expressing difficulties in safety and work efficiency due to limited manpower operation.

To resolve this, the Production Technology Department of Gwangyang Steelworks collaborated with the Seoul Sales Production Planning Office to computerize the export scheduling process and established a ‘Production-Shipment’ system considering this. Based on these improvement efforts, efficiency was increased, and the export shipment concentration at month-end was reduced to 39%.

At the commemorative ceremony, Cho Jeong-su, head of the Production Technology Department at Gwangyang Steelworks, stated, “Under the sense of mission as export workers, employees are producing high-quality products timely and delivering them to customers with optimal scheduling,” adding, “We will continue to do our best to store and handle these valuable products, which embody the sweat and effort of all employees, safely and in the best condition.”

Jang Han-chae, chairman of the Gwangyang Port Dockworkers’ Union, said, “We congratulate the achievement of cumulative export shipments of 200 million tons and express our gratitude to Gwangyang Steelworks for seeking a path of mutual growth with the dockworkers’ union, which had difficulties in manpower operation,” presenting a plaque of appreciation together.

Meanwhile, POSCO has been selected as the ‘most competitive steel company in the world’ for 11 consecutive years by the global steel analysis organization WSD (World Steel Dynamics), and in July 2019, it was the first domestic company to be selected as a ‘Lighthouse Factory’ leading the future of global manufacturing by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.