This is an indigenous equivalent grade for
CORTEN Steel that is used by Indian Railway to manufacture weather resistant
structural/wagons.
SAIL-
Bokaro Steel Plant has obtained the license from Bureau of Indian Standards
(BIS) for IS 11587:1986 “Weather resistant Structural Steel”, grades WR-Fe 480A
(general application for weather resistant structural steel), WR-Fe 480B (Low
Phosphorus Micro-alloyed weather resistant structural steel) and WR-Fe 490H
(for container manufacturing) to roll steel according to the standards
specified.
“During
the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a huge shortage of shipping grade containers
globally. Many containers were tied up at ports, storage facilities &
vessels world-wide due to government restrictions and regulations,” an official
statement stated. It added that the rising demand, port congestions, and closed
manufacturing operations made the shortage worse.
This
resulted in increase in container freight rates phenomenally across the world
imposed by shipping lines. This badly impacted India’s export import supply
chain, the statement claimed adding that the country requires about 3.5 lakh
containers every year but there is no container production, thus had to depend
mainly on China.
It
further said that container manufacturing was viewed as the solution to
container shortage that could eliminate the dependence of India on China. “The
challenges faced were not only on the economies of scale in which India
produces these containers, but also on the availability of raw material used in
its manufacture, the corrosion/weather resistant steel,” it stated.