A few weeks ago, the Ionic Pride, a bulk ship carrying coking coal, docked at the Port of Koper. The ship, carrying around 75 thousand tonnes of coal and destined for a steelworks in the Czech Republic, had left Australia a month earlier.
The Ionic Pride, built in 2017, brought coal to the Port of Koper, which was then shipped to the Liberty Ostrava steelworks in the Czech Republic. The plant produces more than 2 million tonnes of steel a year, which is then used mainly in the construction and engineering sectors. It is a steelworks that produces its products with minimal environmental impact. The steelworks’ website shows that its emissions are two-thirds below the EU’s emission limits. The company will further modernise its production by 2023, replacing existing furnaces and reducing particulate emissions by an additional 60%.
Coking or metallurgical coal is a type of coal used to produce high quality coke, one of the key ingredients in the steelmaking process. On the other hand, there is thermal or steam coal, which is used to generate electricity and heat. In this process, thermal coal is ground into powder and burned in boilers to produce heat.
