Bethlehem Steel Corporation
For Immediate Release

SPARROWS POINT, Md., June 8, 2000 - In a 21-day project, Bethlehem Steel Corporation this week completed the approximately $60-million conversion of the No. 1 continuous slab caster at the Sparrows Point Division to produce wider slabs and, ultimately, plate at lower costs.

"The converted caster will provide low-cost, high-quality wide slabs primarily for conversion into plate products," said Duane R. Dunham, Bethlehem's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "It will also increase Bethlehem's overall steelmaking and slab production at Sparrows Point while improving quality and lowering costs significantly. Once the new casting machine is running at capacity later this year, the division's slab production capability will increase from 3.7 million tons to about 4 million tons annually."

One of two continuous slab casting strands installed in 1985, the No. 1 strand's width capability has been increased to 104 inches from 88. "The caster strand conversion was approved by Bethlehem's Board of Directors in March 1999," said Carl W. Johnson, president of the Sparrows Point Division, "so the 14-month project, which included design, equipment manufacture, construction and installation, was on a fast-track schedule.

"The new facility will provide wide slabs for rolling into light-gauge coiled plates on Bethlehem's Steckel mill in Conshohocken, Pa. The wider slabs will provide yield and productivity benefits and, along with other competitiveness initiatives, will cause the mill to be fully cost-competitive with newly constructed, plate mills.

The wider continuous caster will also supply slabs to the 110-inch plate mill at Bethlehem's Burns Harbor (Ind.) Division, which will roll them into long-length, light-gauge plates suitable for a variety of cut-to-length orders.

The first phase of construction began last summer when steelmaking was down for two months during the reline of "L" blast furnace, Mr. Johnson said, and included preliminary structural and electrical work. The machine then resumed operation. The original strand was taken out of service on May 15 to be replaced by the new, wider machine. Twenty-one days later, on Monday, June 5, two heats of steel were cast.

"The completion of such a major endeavor in this short time frame is due to the tremendous teamwork exhibited by our group of international contractors and steelmaking employees," Mr. Johnson said.

"Monday's initial cast was followed by nine heats on Tuesday and 15 on Wednsday," said Thomas J. Russo, manager of Sparrows Point's steel group, "and we are ahead of our ramp up schedule." Each heat of molten steel weighs nearly 300 tons.

Two advanced features of the new casting strand include dynamic soft reduction in which pressure is applied to the slab to improve its center integrity and overall quality, and air mist cooling to allow additional casting flexibility at varied speeds.

The casting strand was supplied by Voest-Alpine Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, the turn-key contractor and a subsidiary of Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Linz, Austria.

Subcontractors included Enron Engineering and Construction Co., Houston, responsible for construction and construction management; Stevens Painton Corp., Canonsburg, Pa., installation and mechanical; Riggs Distler and Co., Baltimore, electrical, and Forti/Poole and Kent, L.L.C., Baltimore, piping. Bethlehem employees provided major support for all aspects of the project.

The conversion of this continuous caster strand is the second major modernization project to be completed this year at the Sparrows Point Division. The new continuous cold rolling mill complex started in late April. With this and several other capital projects, Bethlehem has invested more than $500 million at Sparrows Point in the last two years.