In mid June, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco joined executives from Grupo IMSA, a multinational metal processing company headquartered in Kalama, Wash., to announce the location of Grupo IMSA subsidiary, Steelscape, at the Port of Shreveport-Bossier.

Grupo IMSA will invest $200 million to build and outfit a 200,000 ft2 facility that will produce metallic-coated and prepainted steel coils primarily for the construction and OEM markets in the United States and Canada. The project is expected to create up to 240 jobs.

"We are pleased to welcome Grupo IMSA and Steelscape to Louisiana. This company is well known in the steel products industry for their quality, reliability and customer service," said Governor Blanco. "Steelscape is the kind of company that we are proud to recruit to Louisiana. Their record reflects a commitment to safety, health and environmental responsibility. As for bringing quality jobs to our state, Steelscape will provide competitive pay and outstanding benefits to its Louisiana workforce."

Grupo IMSA's investment is the largest individual project launched at the Port of Shreveport-Bossier, slated to produce 500,000 tons of finished product per year when complete. The company will build the production facility in four stages on a 78-acre site. The first stage of production is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2006.

Steelscape is a wholly owned subsidiary of Monterrey, Mexico-based IMSA ACERO, a member of the Grupo IMSA family of companies and the largest producer of galvanized and prepainted steel in Latin America. Steelscape operates plants in Washington, California and Alabama.