Air cargo the area surrounding the city and thus land access. As this access was closed, in the so-called Berlin blockade, an airlift remained the only option to get increasingly urgent deliveries of food, coal, and other supplies to West Berlin. Over 330 days to 12 May 1949 a total of 2.26 million tons of cargo were airlifted to Berlin, an average of 6,800 tons a day, 80% by the US and 20% by the UK. Although freight traffic developed modestly, reaching only 800,000 tonnes worldwide by the mid-1950s, the world economy was hitting its post-war stride. Germany and Japan were emerging
Mittal Steel South Africa such as water and electricity were already well catered for, and the town had a basic established infrastructure with a settled community. While ore would have to be transported 1 000 km from Sishen, coking coal was available from nearby and the overall economics were favourable. It was decided that both profile and flat products would be catered for in a plant with an ultimate capacity of 8 million tons per annum of liquid steel. Subsequent changes in steel markets has meant that extension to flat products has been delayed indefinitely and the current capacity is about 2,00 million tons