New Delhi: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has awarded the first license to produce Structural Weather Resistant Steel (Corten Steel), conforming to IS 11587, to Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant. The license is given to Tata Steel as part of India’s larger endeavour to reduce country’s dependence on import of shipping containers manufactured using Corten Steel. This special grade steel is predominantly used in the manufacturing of shipping containers and other heavy-duty weather-proof applications including rail wagon side panels, rice mill containers, building construction, street furniture and upmarket works of art, signs, chimineas and fire bowls.
A felicitation ceremony was organised today by BIS in New Delhi to formally grant the license to Tata Steel. The license was presented to the Company’s senior executives – Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President (Technology & New Materials Business) and Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President (Corporate Services) by Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards in the presence of Shri Abhijit Narendra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Steel and other senior dignitaries.
The license provided to Tata Steel to produce Corten steel will contribute to the Government’s vision of self-reliant nation – ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’, which aims to strengthen India’s manufacturing economy by systemically lowering the dependence on imports across various products.
Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said: “We are delighted to receive the first all India BIS license to manufacture Corten grade steel. This development of new and specialised steel grade, a testimony to our new product development, research, and innovation capabilities, will drive Company’s competitiveness and contribute to the vision of AatmaNirbhar Bharat by reducing our nation’s reliance on imports. We are committed to developing cutting-edge technologies and designing solutions that help transform processes, improve efficiencies, and enable world-class customer experiences.”
Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, said: “We thank Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and BIS for granting us the license to produce this new grade of steel. As a responsible corporate, we will continue to work closely with the government, and all stakeholders to explore new ways to strengthen the Indian steel sector by making it more resilient and ‘AatmaNirbhar’ to the evolving demands in the market.”
Corten steel is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting to impart weather resistant properties and is known for durability, low maintenance and improved life cycle. Its weathering property is enabled by the formation of a stable superficial rust layer that develops during atmospheric exposure. Essentially attributed to the rising demand from the construction industry, the global weathering steel market size is estimated to be around $990 million (2018) and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.6% till 2025.
Building India’s capability to produce Corten Steel will open fresh opportunities for domestic cargo transportation leveraging the vast expanse of inland waterways of India. This will enable movement of bulk cargos like cement, food grains, fertilisers etc. through coastal and inland waterways in containerised form – an economical, ecological, and easier mode of transportation – and will reduce the cost of logistics and handling charges. Earlier this year, Tata Steel had undertaken its maiden multi-modal shipment of ~1,800 tonnes of finished steel product (TMT bars) from Haldia Port in West Bengal to Pandu Port in Assam using the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route via Brahmaputra River, becoming the first steel company in India to do so. This shipment of Tata Steel’s TMT bars that arrived at Haldia on rail before being loaded on to river barges marked the beginning of the use of multimodal logistics, a landmark effort to decarbonise the steel sector and the country.
