Italy already makes steel differently from most of Europe. Federacciai’s president said 90% of Italian steel in 2024 came from electric furnaces fed with scrap, while a CDP brief puts the European average at 44%. An electric arc furnace (EAF) doesn’t need coal-fired blast furnaces to turn ore into iron. It melts scrap and pre-made iron units with electricity, which cuts emissions sharply. [1]
That is the technology behind Metinvest Adria, the joint venture between Ukraine’s Metinvest and Italian plantmaker Danieli. It aims to build a plant on the former Lucchini and JSW site in Piombino, producing 2.7 million tonnes a year of hot rolled coil. The plant will have two 190-tonne EAFs. [2]
How it would run
The new melt shop would have a capacity of about 3 million tonnes, which will require large volumes of scrap, so Italian steelmakers worry about a squeeze on the domestic market. The project also plans to use scrap, pig iron and HBI, and its CEO says the 800-metre quay will let it import all raw materials by sea. Metinvest plans to supply pig iron and DRI from Ukraine. [3]
The shipping angle
Fratelli Cosulich is set to operate the dedicated steel quay, its first terminal operator role, investing at least €30 million. It expects 100 ships in and 100 out each year, for scrap imports and coil exports. [4]
The Cosulich–Metinvest relationship goes back years. Cosulich’s shipowning arm Vulcania was created in 2015, and in 2016 it bought two 26,000 dwt twin vessels because of its business relationship with Metinvest. It later added a 39,000 dwt Handysize. In 2017, the two also worked together to raise the permitted ship size at Porto Nogaro from 7,000 to 15,000–16,000 tonnes deadweight. [5]
The war changed the trade. Metinvest lost the Mariupol plants that fed slabs to north-east Italian mills by sea, a flow Cosulich handled. Its Ukrainian pig iron and coils now reach Europe by rail via Poland and through Romanian Black Sea ports. Piombino would create a new seaborne flow into Italy. The company says the plant could cover half of Italy’s coil needs, coils now brought in from abroad. [6]
Cosulich’s own steel-trade ships run from 26,000 to 39,000 dwt, which suggests geared Handysize bulkers would do most of the work. Piombino’s basin and access channel are dredged to 20 metres, so draft is not the constraint. [7]
Where it stands, and what is missing
The government declared the project of national strategic interest, with a €3.2 billion investment and up to €323 million in state incentives. The northern quay still needs €92 million, €30 million in 2027 and €62 million in 2028. [8]
Metinvest Adria is working to bring in a third investor, and construction is now expected in spring 2027, 8 to 10 months late. The official target for full operation is 2029. A ministry review on October 20 is the next checkpoint. Until the money, the permits and the quay line up, the ships stay hypothetical
