Maritime Steel and Foundries Ltd., New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, sat idle for almost 11 months before its furnaces fired up again last week. New owner Abbas Jafarnia, who worked as quality control manager for the steel caster, is no stranger to the work, and he’s optimistic about the firm’s ability to turn a profit, according to an article in The Chronicle Herald. 

Unsurprisingly, Jafarnia said he faced some resistance from the town to reopen the downtown facility, which is a familiar challenge we’ve written about earlier this month. The owner doesn’t envision fighting the urban battle in the long run, though. A better location would be near the airport and port of Halifax, and the owner plans on moving the facility’s location once the business is up and running.

Best of luck to Maritime Steel and its employees in finding success in their reopening, and hopefully they can serve as an example for other quiet foundries to start humming again.