Bahrain-based United Stainless Steel Company (USCO), a leading stainless steel mill, said that it is working closely with authorities to investigate a fire incident at its plant, managed by ChromiumSteel, and is taking all steps to resume operations quickly.

Providing an update on the status of its plant following a fire at its premises on May 22, USCO said the company’s stringent health and safety procedures combined with effective action from authorities mitigated any injuries or fatalities on site as a result of the incident.

All employees were immediately evacuated from the premises when the fire broke out at 05.15 am with Bahrain Civil Defence fire fighters arriving directly on the scene at 05.30 am. All relevant utilities were quickly shut down to avoid additional damage onsite or to surrounding areas, limiting the effects of the fire only to the plant and its machinery, it said.

As a precaution, operations at neighbouring Bahrain Steel and SULB were also temporary shut down and all employees evacuated but have since resumed, it added.

Chairman of USCO Sheikh Khaled Salem Al Sabah said: “On behalf of the board and our partners, I would like to express our deep gratitude to the Bahrain Civil Defence force for its rapid response and the effective action taken to ensure the safety of our staff at USCO and those across the Foulath Complex.”

“Having secured the well-being of our employees and the premises, we are now working closely with authorities to further investigate the incident as well as taking all necessary steps to support the resumption of operations as soon as possible under the management of ChromiumSteel, whose partnership with us over the past year has seen a significant ramp up in production and sales of our high-quality products to customers across Europe, the US and South East Asia,” he said.

Francesco Ruffo di Calabria, CEO of ChromiumSteel, added: “We are grateful for the support and cooperation we have received from all of the authorities in Bahrain, especially the Civil Defence, as well as from our staff, partners and friends.”

“We are committed to doing all we can to ensure minimal disruption to our operations and to our customers around the world. We will continue to meet all outstanding deliveries as planned and have already assembled representatives from Danieli, a leading global supplier of equipment for the metal industry, onsite to evaluate the situation and initiate a maintenance and recovery plan that we can swiftly implement,” he said.

“Working together, we are confident that we will effectively restore full operations to the highest international standards and continue to build on the highly successful partnership that we have established with USCO over the past year,” he added.

ChromiumSteel entered into a production and sales agreement with USCO in August 2017, whereby the company is responsible to procure the necessary raw materials, manage operations and sell USCO’s products to its customers around the world, it said.

USCO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Foulath, a holding company established in 2008 for investment in the steel industry across the GCC and broader Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service