voestalpine Texas Puts Their Shovels in the Dirt for a New Era at the Port's La Quinta Trade Gateway

voestalpine Texas will celebrate the ground breaking of a US $740 million Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) facility at Port Corpus Christi's La Quinta Trade Gateway on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. The event will be held from 11:30 AM to 2 PM at the La Quinta Trade Gateway, located at 4832 HWY. 181, Portland, Texas.

The Austrian steel and technology group, voestalpine, will break ground on their largest foreign direct investment project to date at Port Corpus Christi's La Quinta Trade Gateway. The facility will produce high quality HBI. HBI is a key material in the raw steel making process. Approximately 1000 jobs are anticipated to be created during construction of the facility. Once operational, voestalpine Texas will employ 150 full time staff.

"As South Texas continues to emerge as the energy hub of the United States, Port Corpus Christi continues to develop strategic partnerships with the world's leading entities. We are honored to be selected by voestalpine for their HBI production plant. voestalpine's desire to be good stewards of our environment while creating great jobs, and bringing more recognition to South Texas is something that we are proud to stand behind." Said Judy Hawley, Port Corpus Christi Commission Chair.

The Corpus Christi area was chosen to be a part of voestalpine's international growth strategy due to ease of logistics at Port Corpus Christi; abundant energy from natural gas supplied by South Texas' Eagle Ford Shale; a highly skilled workforce; and political stability. The property on Port Corpus Christi's La Quinta Ship Channel offers deep water ship access for large vessels with excellent highway and rail service.

The voestalpine Texas facility will produce approximately two million tons of high-quality HBI annually using natural gas as a reduction agent in the direct reduction process. Approximately half of the HBI will be exported to voestalpine's plants in Linz and Donawitz, Austria for the production of steel. The rest will be procured by international customers, and to supply voestalpine's strategic reserves.