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Benteler International Begins Construction on $975 Million Steel Mill In Shreveport, Louisiana

09/16/2013
Benteler International began construction on the first phase of a $975 million steel manufacturing project under construction at The Port of Caddo-Bossier in Shreveport, Louisiana, which is estimated to create 675 jobs in the region.

Headquartered in Paderborn, Germany, the company is a business unit of privately held Benteler International AG, which is based in Salzburg, Austria. “This new manufacturing facility – our first in the U.S. – is an important part of our global growth strategy,” said Matthias Jaeger, President and CEO of Benteler Steel/Tube GmbH. “With more than 25 percent of our steel/tube products already flowing into the United States, and demand expected to increase, this new Caddo Parish plant is poised to play a critical role in supporting the U.S. domestic energy industry.”

The project’s first phase, construction of a hot-rolling seamless steel tube facility, will be completed in the third quarter of 2015. A second phase will lead to the opening of a steel mill with an electric arc furnace in 2020. When complete, the project will span 1.35 million square feet on 330 acres at the port. The seamless steel tubes produced by the facility will be used for the exploration and transportation of oil and gas, as well as for the generation of power and mechanical applications. The plant will be capable of producing up to 320,000 tons of steel tube product annually.

As an incentive to secure the project, LED offered Benteler a customized incentive package that includes performance-based grants totaling $57.4 million to reimburse site development, infrastructure and equipment costs incurred by the port and the company over the next few years of construction and operations; a performance-based grant of $12.75 million to reimburse certain relocation and internal training expenses; and the development of the 65,000-square-foot BPCC Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Technology now under construction on the campus of Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City, Louisiana.

The BPCC Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Technology will initially focus on meeting the training needs of Benteler and then serve the broader needs of growing manufacturers throughout the region. The total value of the new training center will be approximately $22 million, including land, infrastructure, building and equipment. The Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation, the City of Bossier City and the Bossier Parish Police Jury will contribute a combined $1 million, of the $22 million total, to provide road and other infrastructure improvements needed for the new training center.

Other regional partners contributing to infrastructure improvements for the project at the port include: the Red River Waterway Commission which allocated $6 million, The Port of Caddo-Bossier which supplied $3 million and the Caddo Parish Commission with a grant to $2.6 million.

In addition, Benteler Steel/Tube will receive the services of LED FastStart the state’s workforce-training program The company is expected to utilize Louisiana’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption incentive programs.

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