Ukrainian mining and steel producing group Metinvest has announced that the first coking coal vessel - a bulk carrier called Bison - of 2025 from the US has arrived in Ukraine. The Bison bulk carrier has delivered 80,000 mt of coal from Metinvest’s US-based subsidiary United Coal Company. The company plans to import one ship with 80,000 mt of American coking coal per month to partially compensate for the loss of Ukrainian coking coal capacities.
This delivery will help the company to stabilize its operations at Zaporizhstal and Kametstal following the shutdown of the country’s only coking coal producer Pokrovske Coal Group, which halted operations in early January 2025 due to escalating security risks caused by the intensified war and electricity supply disruptions.
“Despite the challenging conditions in the Ukrainian steel industry due to the aggressor’s ongoing invasion, we have mobilized our resources to ensure the industry’s operation. Although coking coal import is more expensive than its domestic equivalent due to logistics, this is an important step to help the Ukrainian economy,” Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group, said.
United Coal Company, located in the Appalachian region of the US, has an annual production capacity of three million mt of metallurgical coal.