Tuesday, December 17th, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA - With railroad workers' strike continuing its eighth days on December 16, cargo and passenger services have been disrupted severely. According to cement industry sources, most cement plants will have to stop their operations within a few days as the bituminous coal inventories would run out soon.
For example, Hyundai Cement, with plants in Yeongwol (Gangwon Province) and Danyang (North Chungcheong Province), is currently carrying 500 tons of bituminous coal a day to the Yeongwol plant with 20 freight trucks. But this is only a half of what the plant needs. The company's present coal inventory level is 3,000 tons, which is expected to be exhausted within two to three days assuming 500 tons of shipment a day.
POSCO is also having difficulties in moving its steel products. The volume of its cold-rolled coil that was delivered to Obong Station in Euiwang near Seoul from the company's Gwangyang Works has declined to 740 tons from 2,100 tons a day before the strike. The Hwasun coal mine of the Korea Coal Corp. reported that its anthracite coal shipments have been diverted to trucks but still are short of about 200 tons a day in delivery.