One of the most important materials for the production of the SkyWay infrastructure is steel. It is used to make track structures in the Testing Centres in Belarus and the UAE and steel ropes for string rails.
The project cooperates with the largest suppliers of steel wire and rolled steel in Europe to be able to work with high quality steel. Among such suppliers are Voestalpine (Austria), SSAB (Sweden) and Bekaert (Belgium). You can find more information about these companies in our article.
SSAB
SSAB is a company that produces high strength and hardened steel of various formats. The company's headquarters are in Sweden.
The Company's history is over 140 years. Today, SSAB has production facilities in Sweden, Finland and the USA. Several other manufacturing plants are in Brazil and China. The company employs in total over 14,000 people.
SSAB produces around 8.8 million tons of high strength steel annually. In 2019, the company's total sales volume exceeded 8 billion dollars. Today, SSAB is one of the largest steel companies in Sweden.
For the SkyWay project, SSAB supplies the steel used to make the string transport track structure. The cooperation has been going on for more than 5 years.
According to Vadim Pikalov, SSAB Sales Director in Europe, both companies share the environmentally friendly approach to production. For example, SSAB specialists plan to launch carbon-free steel production by 2045.
SkyWay, in its turn, uses SSAB steel to build flyovers that help preserve the natural landscape. For building the string track, there is no need to cut down forests, drain lakes or disrupt the natural migration of animals.
SSAB CIS representatives regularly visit the SkyWay company-developer to discuss current and future cooperation. The last such meetings were held in 2016 and 2018.
SSAB representatives in the guest house of the SkyWay Testing Centre in Belarus
Voestalpine
Voestalpine AG is an international group of steel companies with headquarters in Linz, Austria. The companies produce steel, cars, railway systems, equipment and tool steels.
At present, Voestalpine AG has over 500 offices in 50 countries, employing about 52,000 people. In fiscal 2018/19 year, the Voestalpine Group generated revenues of around 13.6 billion EUR; its operating result (EBITDA) is almost 1.5 billion EUR.
Voestalpine is a market leader in railway systems, tool steel and special profiles. The company also works with the world's largest car manufacturers: Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Volvo and many others. Voestalpine adheres to global climate goals and is working to develop technologies that will enable it to reduce CO2 emissions in the long term.
Voestalpine supplies SkyWay with rolled metal for the manufacture of string flyovers. In October 2019, Voestalpine commercial service managers visited the SkyWay Testing Centre in Belarus to assess the quality of the string transport. The SkyWay project was presented at the meeting by the General Designer of Unitsky String Technologies Co. Anatoli Unitsky.
The author of the SkyWay technology Anatoli Unitsky with Voestalpine representatives at the Belarusian Testing Centre in 2019
Bekaert
Bekaert is an international company producing steel wire and metal products with special coating. The company's headquarters are in Belgium.
Bekaert is one of the largest wire manufacturers in the world, one in every three car tyres uses the metal cord of the company's production. In addition, the company's products are used in construction, energy and agriculture.
Although the company's headquarters are in Belgium, Bekaert operates in 45 countries of the world. The company employs 29,000 people. In 2018, Bekaert's sales volume comprised 5.1 billion Euros.
Bekaert supplies for SkyWay steel cables for string rails. It was this Belgian company that recently supplied SkyWay with kilometres of ropes for the 2.5-km track, which is currently under construction at the SkyWay Testing Centre in Sharjah.
In October 2019, the SkyWay Testing Centre in Belarus hosted business talks between Anatoli Unitsky, founder of SkyWay, and Peter Janssen, Global Segment Director «New Markets» Bekaert. On those days, the delegation from Belgium also visited the SkyWay production facility and the company's office in Minsk.
The specificity of Bekaert's production makes it possible to create wires of different strength with a diameter of up to one micron (0.001 mm). Thin but strong cables can be useful for creating the SkyWay sagging track structure with spans of up to 1000 metres between the supports, which is planned to be shown in the UAE.
Steel cables from Bekaert for the 2.5-km heavy track at the SkyWay Innovation Centre in Sharjah.
Nikita Zybin