HARRISBURG, Pa., June 14, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Worldwide industrial services and products company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today that its Heckett MultiServ division, the world's largest provider of outsourced, on-site services to steel mills and other metals producers, has won new multi-year contracts in South Africa, China, and the UK totaling more than $50 million.
In South Africa, Heckett MultiServ will assume responsibility for a range of on-site material handling and transport services at two of the country's leading ferrochrome producers, Xstrata AG's CMI works and Billiton Plc's Samancor works in Tubatse. Ferrochrome, an alloy of chrome and iron, is used in the production of stainless steel. Heckett MultiServ has also received a contract for material handling services at Billiton Plc's Metalloys ferromanganese works in Meyerton. These four- and five-year contracts further expand Heckett MultiServ's long-standing presence within South Africa's steel and metals-producing industries, and mark the division's first step into the country's substantial ferrochrome and ferromanganese sectors. South Africa is responsible for 45% of the world's ferrochrome production, while Billiton is the country's leading ferromanganese producer.
In China, Heckett MultiServ will begin providing slag handling and other mill services to the Hangzhou Iron and Steel Group works, a fully-integrated producer of structural steel and other products for the Asian market. The 12-year contract reaffirms Heckett MultiServ's strategic objectives for forming selected long-term relationships with China's larger, well-capitalized steel producers, as that industry undergoes internal rationalization. Heckett MultiServ plans to support the Hangzhou contract with equipment redeployed from other mill services contracts in China recently concluded or nearing expiration.
In the United Kingdom, Heckett MultiServ's Faber Prest Distribution unit has won a five-year contract from Corus Group plc to provide round-the-clock internal steel transport services within its Shotton Works coil coating complex in northern Wales.
"These contracts illustrate our significant opportunities for growth on an international basis across an increasing breadth of services, regions, and market sectors," said Heckett MultiServ - East Region President Geoffrey D. H. Butler.
Harsco Corporation provides market-leading industrial services and products to the worldwide infrastructure development, steel, railway transportation, gas and energy markets. The company employs more than 20,000 people in 40 countries of operation, and recorded 2000 revenues of $2 billion. Additional information about Harsco, including its Heckett MultiServ division, can be found at www.harsco.com.