World number-one steelmaker ArcelorMittal confirmed that it has submitted a bid to acquire Italian integrated steel company Ilva in partnership with Marcegaglia, the country’s major re-roller.

The company specified that it intends to run at least three blast furnaces at Ilva Taranto and increase crude steel production from the current 4.8 million mt/year to 6 million mt/year by 2020.

It also added that the focus would be to increase the value added production at the mill and stated that Ilva would significantly benefit from the economies of scale of being part of a large group such as ArcelorMittal.

ArcelorMittal’s steel plant, Galati, in Romania has provided 34,000 tonnes of steel for a bridge in Turkey, reducing travel time between Istanbul and Izmir from 9 to 3.5 hours.

The Ozman Gazi bridge is the fourth longest bridge in the world and became accessible to traffic as of last week.

“This project has a special importance for us, given its size”, stated Bruno Ribo, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Flat Europe, southeast business division. The bridge cuts back the length between Istanbul and Izmir by around 140km, and is the result of a 420km motorway project.

The Ozman Gazi bridge project was awarded in 2011 to the consortium, NOMAYG, comprised of six general construction companies.

“For the Osman Gazi Bridge, we designed a series of bespoke technical and commercial solutions,” Ribo further added. The bridge was created by the Danish engineering design firm Cowi and is 2,682m long. It is now the longest suspension bridge in Turkey.