Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax

For Immediate Release

BETHLEHEM, Pa., February 27, 1998 -- Bethlehem Steel Corporation today awarded to a two-firm consortium a contract for the construction of an approximately $300-million, 800,000 square-foot continuous cold rolling mill complex at its Sparrows Point Division in Maryland.

In announcing the signing of the contract, Curtis H. Barnette, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "With our customers in mind, we have selected the best equipment available in the world today to meet the highest possible performance standards for sheet steel. We expect to see exceptional quality and yield from this high-volume, 1.7 million ton-per-year facility. As previously stated, this major investment by Bethlehem in Sparrows Point's future is part of the Division's comprehensive plan to achieve and sustain a superior rate of return on the assets invested at this Division."

He said the equipment and construction contract has been awarded to the consortium of VAI, a subsidiary of VA Technologie AG, Linz, Austria, and Fluor Daniel, Inc., Greenville, S.C., a subsidiary of Fluor Corp. VAI will supply the major equipment for the mill and lines, while Fluor Daniel, along with Forti/Poole and Kent, L.L.C., Baltimore, Md., will be responsible for the engineering and procurement for the facility and its construction.

Mr. Barnette said the 1,025 foot-long in-line equipment will include a continuous pickler, which cleans steel prior to rolling, linked to a sheet steel cold reduction section consisting of a five-stand tandem mill. The contract also includes a hydrogen batch annealing facility, where the coils of steel are heated to relieve stress imparted by cold rolling, and a combination skin pass mill and tension leveling line, a coil build-up and inspection line, a packaging line, cranes, buildings and offices.

"This fully-automated cold mill complex will be tailored to fulfill the requirements of our light flat-rolled sheet steel marketing strategy, the needs of our customers, and the upstream and downstream operations of Sparrows Point," Mr. Barnette added.

The tandem mill will feature state-of-the-art mass flow, gauge and flatness control, resulting in unsurpassed product quality from end-to-end in each coil of steel, the company said. The mill will have the capability to roll sheet steel in widths from 22 to 61 inches with thicknesses ranging between .010 to .100 finished gauge.

Construction of the new complex will begin this spring, and production is scheduled for early 2000. The new complex will replace facilities in the existing cold mill, which will gradually decrease production and be shut down in coordination with the phased start up and attainment of full production levels of the new equipment.

"With this new cold mill complex, we are anticipating the same high level of quality, reliability and record-breaking performance that we are getting from our slab casters, which were manufactured by VAI," said Duane Dunham, president of the Sparrows Point Division. Fluor Daniel was the prime contractor for the construction of a facility for the preparation and injection of granular and pulverized coal into two blast furnaces at the Burns Harbor Division.

When Bethlehem's board of directors authorized the cold mill complex on October 29, 1997, Mr. Barnette said, "We believe that Bethlehem Steel will be well served by this value-adding facility that represents another significant step toward Bethlehem's vision to Be the Premier Steel Company, and we believe it will help us to achieve our overall objective of enhancing value for our stockholders."

The decision to locate the new production facility at Sparrows Point came after months of consideration of alternative sites in other states. Factors in the decision were the cumulative benefits to the entire Division, and the comprehensive initiatives and cost reduction plan developed by Sparrows Point, which included significant participation by the United Steelworkers of America. Also helping to bring the complex to Sparrows Point were government officials, suppliers and citizens from local communities.

Bethlehem will install highly efficient emission control equipment that is more technologically sophisticated than equipment in use at the existing cold mill. The new emission control equipment will meet the latest and most stringent regulations.

The new cold mill complex will be supplied with hot-rolled steel from Sparrows Point's modern hot strip mill. Cold-rolled products from Sparrows Point are used in containers, tubing, machinery, storage tanks, automotive parts, metal furniture, electrical lighting equipment and hardware, and are also sold by service centers. Cold-rolled steel is also further processed at the Division's coating lines to produce galvanized or Galvalume (TM) sheet products for the commercial and residential construction, heating ventilation and air conditioning, automotive and appliance industries.