WiredInUSA May 2016

Careful cable for Amazonia

ArcelorMittal has idled a hot strip mill at its northwestern Indiana complex in a move to make its USA operations more efficient. Although production has ceased at the 84″ hot strip mill, none of the mill’s 300 workers will be laid off, a United Steelworkers union official confirmed. United Steelworkers District 7 director, Mike Millsap told The Munster Times that the union is working to find jobs for the affected workers, and to prevent any layoffs. He explained that ArcelorMittal plans to shut down some finishing lines and invest in the remaining lines to increase efficiency. The company recently closed an under used finishing line, with no plans to restart it, Millsap said, continuing that more finishing lines will likely be shuttered as ArcelorMittal continues to address an overcapacity problem that was made worse by China’s 112 million tons of exports last year. Workers steel themselves for plant closures

One of largest submarine fiber projects in the world, the Connected Amazonia program comprises 7,700km of cables to connect 52 municipal areas through five separate cable routes on and beneath riverbeds in the Amazon. As part of the project, 275km of Nexans URC-1 cables will be installed in riverbeds between Coari and Tefé. The Connected Amazonia program aims to bring Internet connections to the state of Amazonas, not only to connect residents to the Internet, but also to enable telemedicine, distance learning and greater interconnection between health, security and traffic services. The program aims to do this while minimizing the environmental impact of the installation. To help preserve the fragile Amazon rainforest ecosystem, Nexans has supplied cables that will not release harmful substances into the delicate river ecosystem. The fiber optic cables also meet all international standards for submarine cables. To handle the strong currents in the river that occur throughout the year, a flat-bottomed barge will be used as the cable-laying vessel.

wiredInUSA - May 2016

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