Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) decided to get their own fleet of railway vehicles to make sure the plant’s Vysota 239 department receives timely shipments of MMK Mill 5000 steel sheets. This is all part of the two companies’ strategic cooperation initiative.

The decision to go through with the company railway fleet project was initially taken when Vysota 239 department and Mill 5000 at Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and MMK, respectively, were under constriction in 2007. The two companies bought forty-four special twelve-meter carriages meant for the transportation of strip material with movable loading ramps. The carriages were delivered by the Ukrainian Dneprovagonmash.

In October 2010, Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant signed an agreement with Engels-based Transmash for the delivery of the unique eighteen-meter carriages meant for the transportation of strip material. The new design meets all the requirements posed by Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and MMK and makes it possible to transport eighteen- and twelve-meter steel sheets. The first carriages arrived at MMK and Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant this year. The latter now owns forty-four twelve-meter carriages and forty-six eighteen-meter ones, whereas MMK has forty eighteen-meter carriages for the transportation of strip material.

By the end of 2011, Transmash will have delivered 229 eighteen-meter platforms to Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and fifty-four carriages to MMK. With their own fleet of railway carriages, the two companies will become independent from the freight forwarders as far as their wide steel sheets are concerned.

The shipment savings are estimated to come to over 20%.