Coke chemists of AKHZ helped restore the Turkish Isdemir steel plant to work

Ukrainian specialists helped Turkish colleagues restore the coke-chemical wing of the plant after the earthquake

Veterans of the Avdiivka Coke Plant (AKHZ) of the Metinvest Group and Koksokhimstansia SE helped to restore the coke wing of the Turkish Isdemir steel plant, which was shut down due to the earthquakes in Turkiye, back to work. This is stated in the press release of Metinvest.Media.

“The Isdemir steel plant is one of the Turkish steel plants that suffered damage due to underground tremors. The coke-chemical wing stopped at the enterprise. Turkish specialists were unable to restore the functioning of the critical resource on their own. Specialists from Ukraine came to help. AKHZ employees previously succeeded in reviving the enterprise after it stopped at the height of the war in Donbas. Keeping in mind the unique education of Ukrainian colleagues, the management of Isdemir turned to the former CEO of AKHZ for help,” the message reads.

According to Musa Magomedov, ex-CEO of AKHZ, immediately after the earthquake, the management of Isdemir asked for help, taking into account the colossal experience of the people of Avdiivka, obtained under the conditions of 9 years of war. Even before the full-scale invasion, the plant’s specialists restored the work of the plant 15 times due to constant shelling of the city of Avdiivka.

Not long ago, the plant’s specialists left to help their Turkish colleagues. After serious joint preparatory work, it was possible to load the batteries, dispense the first coke and start the gas blowers.

“Today, the Isdemir plant is returning to the production of coke chemical products. We did it together with Avdiivka coke chemists – solved our problems and achieved success. We are currently increasing production. We are sincerely grateful for the help of our Ukrainian colleagues,” said the chief manager of start-up works of the Isdemir plant Bulent Buukunal.

In total, the earthquake in Turkiye paralyzed a third of the steel production capacity.

İskenderun steel plant İskenderun Demir ve Çelik A.Ş. (Isdemir) is a division of the Erdemir company. Erdemir Group is a Turkish ferrous steel company. It is the largest steel producer in Turkiye. It ranks 43rd in the world by volume.

As GMK Center reported earlier, steel enterprises of Iskenderun (Turkiye) did not experience significant damage due to the earthquake in the country, which occurred on February 6, 2023. Steelmakers are assessing the damage from the earthquake and are gradually resuming production.

Iskenderun is home to several steel producers, including Isdemir, Koc, Bastug, Toscelik and Yazici. The region also has several rolling mills – Tosyali Toyo, Atakas, MMK Metalurji, Corbus and Yolbulan. These steel producers account for 25-30% of the total volume of production in the country.