32 / 68
wiredInUSA - May 2016
32
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.
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