The modern world relies on steel for its roads, rail, energy infrastructure, buildings, household products, packaging and its vehicles.

The modern world relies on steel for its road, rail and energy infrastructure, its buildings, its household products, its packaging and its vehicles. Steel is a vital part of the world we live in, and it has an important role to play in helping us forge a more sustainable future.

Transport

Steel makes railways and bridges stronger and lighter, helping to reduce emissions during construction and provide durable weather-resistant infrastructure for many years to come. It is also a vital component in trains,ships and planes, and innovations like our iCARe? range of electrical steels are enabling the automotive industry to develop light and efficient electrical motors which can run for longer on a single charge. Our‘S-in motion’ solutions showcase our ultra high-strength and advanced high-strength steels, which are specifically designed to help car-producers reduce weight and cut emissions, while safeguarding both safety and performance.

Safety

Steel is a natural choice when it comes to safety. We have helped develop a new type of safety barrier which is up to 25% lighter than conventional versions, saving both money and CO2 for our customers, and significantly reducing transportation and installation costs. Steel has also played a key role in a challenging construction project to build major new flood defences in Buenos Aires, and we have supplied around 164,000m2 of steel for a state-of-the-art containment structure for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site in Ukraine.

Energy

In 2012 we supplied over 3.5 million tonnes of steel to the energy infrastructure industry. This ranged from hot rolled coils, specialty plates, tubular products, and long steel products for the oil and gas energy sector to heavy plates for wind turbine towers, electrical steel for generators, and innovative coated steel for solar power plants. Using steel helps reach high safety and efficiency standards, thanks to its performance in strength, its ability to withstand tough and severe environments, and thanks to innovation. The future demand in this sector will be driven by sustained demand in mature markets and stronger growth in the emerging markets.