An international steelmaker with its North American headquarters in Mobile County is getting over $4.3 million in tax incentives to support a $74 million expansion project.

SSAB announced Friday that it was expanding its heat treat capacity with the construction of a new building at its Alabama facility in unincorporated Axis, north of Satsuma and Saraland. The new facility will add 12 jobs and is expected to enhance the company’s ability to serve customers in the U.S. with premium steel products.

Andy Bramstedt, general manager of SSAB Alabama, said the expansion will bolster the company’s capacity to produce high-strength steel brands like Hardox and Strenx. It will also increase the company’s truck shipping capacity from the Axis facility.

The new building will be equipped with a state-of-the-art tempering furnace as well as other improvements to infrastructure. It is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2027.

“This investment will not only expand our capacity for niche products, which are in high demand, but also enable us to offer a broader product range from our Alabama facility,” said Kjell Baeckman, head of sales special steels with SSAB, a Sweden-based steelmaker that has its North American headquarters in Mobile.

The project will be bolstered by a 10-year non-education property tax abatement estimated at $2.8 million. In addition, the company will get a non-educational sales and use tax abatement during the construction phase of the project that is estimated at $1.5 million.

Bradley Byrne, president and CEO of the Mobile Chamber, said SSAB’s investment is a “major advancement for our region’s industrial capabilities.”

The project is separate from a $12 million capital project the company announced last August. That project is to extend an existing furnace and upgrade shot blasting equipment. That investment is aimed at increasing the facility’s quenching and tempering (QT) capacity at the current plant by 10%. The process uses a heat treatment method to enhance the mechanical properties of metals and alloys.

The Mobile County Industrial Development Authority also granted property and sales tax abatements during construction, as well as a 10-year abatement on non-educational property taxes.

No new jobs are being added with the furnace expansion project, which is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The company has been making large financial investments into Axis plant since 2018, the same year that SSAB Americans announced it was relocating its U.S. headquarters from the Chicago area to Mobile.

The company invested around $100 million into the plant, which added more than 50 new jobs. At the time, the company employed 600 people. That project was also bolstered with a local incentive package that involved $750,000 cash contributions from the city and county, plus a 10-year property tax abatement authorized by the IDA.

SSAB Americas has operated a steel mill in Axis since 2001.

The SSAB Americas plant in Axis is within Mobile County Commission District 1, represented by Commissioner Merceria Ludgood, who praised the investment as an example that Mobile County is a “growing hub for innovation.”

“This investment will create new opportunities for our workers, strengthen our local economy, and reinforce Mobile County’s leadership in advanced steel production,” she said. “We are proud to see major investments like this in the northern part of our county.”