Van Merksteijn International (VMI) has recently ordered technical equipment from the Italian company Danieli for an integrated steel plant to be built in Eemshaven. This will be an ultramodern “Green Steelmill”, which is set to become the standard in the global steel market in terms of circularity, sustainability and innovation. The complete project concerns melting scrap into liquid steel and flat-rolling blooms into wire rod. VMI has chosen Eemshaven in Groningen, where a green-field location of approximately 50 hectares is available. The production capacity after building Phase 1 will be approximately 900,000 tonnes of wire rod. The total investment involved in this is estimated at 260 million euro. The plant will provide direct employment for about 300 people, and indirect employment for many more.

Meanwhile, Groningen Seaports is busy preparing the site at Eemshaven for the arrival of Van Merksteijn. The work involved in raising the level of the site has nearly been completed. The invitation to tender for the design of the 300-metre long quay is currently also in preparation. According to the schedule, this quay will be built in 2019.

Circular industry
The arrival of Van Merksteijn International BV fits in perfectly with the green Seaport vision pursued by Groningen Seaports. One of the spearheads of this vision is the achievement of a fully circular industry. Groningen Seaports, along with the Province of Groningen, the Municipality of Eemsmond and Eemsdelta EZ, has made a great effort to implement this project, which has considerable added value for creating jobs in Eemshaven.

The east side of Eemshaven with in front the nearly raised site of the Van Merksteijn factory