b'4American Journal of Transportation ajot.comGreen trends to benefitSpecial panel discusses steel logistics steel scrap industry at worlds largest steel conferenceBy Peter Buxbaum, AJOT By Manik Mehta, AJOTTheUnitedStatessteeltry now needs to cope withThankstoCovid-19,thehordesofsteelJacque Morrow, Vice President, National industryexperiencedanpressure to reduce its carbonexecutives who descend on New York in JuneAccount Solutions, PLS Logistical Services, upswingduringthethirdfootprint from both environ- each year from around the world to participatespoke of avoiding everyday rust in the chal-quarter of 2020, as did muchmentalandeconomicper- intheSteelSuccessStrate- lenging market.of the rest of the economy. Byspectives.Steelplantsaregies (SSS) conference, madeAssessingtheshipment the end of September, 18 ofgoodcandidatesfordecar- avirtualappearancethistraffic situation, Morrow said 27 blast furnaces were oper- bonization,thereportcon- year instead of in flesh andthatdemandforflatbedand atinginNorthAmerica cluded,andtheindustryblood.The SSS-2020, whichdry van had dropped to his-versus 12 at the low point.canusethesenewcircum- was scheduled to take place intorical lows during the Covid-Thescrapsteelmarket,stancesas a chance to safe- June, was held Oct.26-28 this19.Dry van has meanwhile alongwiththerestoftheguard its license to continueyear in the virtual theater.reboundedwhileflatbed industry,alsobenefittedasoperating in the long term. Whiletheconferencegrowth was subdued by slow globaleconomiesreopenedSchnitzers steel mill usesraised all the relevant themesreturn of the industrial sector. during the third quarter. (Seerecycled scrap as its primaryof interest to U.S. steel indus- There is no relief in sight as far main story on page 2) Look- rawmaterialandhydroelec- try-theproblemsofsteelaspricingisconcerned.The ing ahead, decarbonization istricityasaprimaryenergyimports, rising unemployment,industryfacesashortageof a longer-term trend that willsource, noted Lundgren. Theclimate change, reducing coal- truck drivers.There is a short-likelybenefittheindustry,steel we produce has an excep- generatedpollution,markets,ageofsome60,000drivers especially on the scrap side.tionallylowcarbonimpact,innovation,electric-poweredJacque morrow, vP, National Accountand this is going to grow pos-Restartingautomotiveascomparedtotheindustrycars and the autonomous auto- Solutions, PLS Logistical Services sibly to between 100,000 and supply chains was the primaryaverage, she said. mobiles, Chinas steel exports,160,000 in 10 years.Work is impetus for scraps resurgence.Despitetheuncertaintyand the ubiquitous Covid-19 figured in manybecoming stressful and unattractive for drivers, Asdomesticmanufactur- (TRENDScontinued onspeeches and discussionsa special panel at theand this discourages manyfromjoiningthe ingimproved,scrapsupplypage 9) conference was dedicated to logistics.(PANELcontinued on page 9)and collection increased, said MarkMillett,presidentand chief executive officer of SteelLIBERTY GLOBAL LOGISTICS llcDynamics,amanufacturer headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.This,incombina-tion with higher domestic steel production, drove significantlySIMPLIFYING YOUR OCEAN TRANSPORTATIONhigher ferrous scrap volume. Schnitzer Steel Industries, a recycled steel manufacturer basedinPortland,Oregon, exported65%ofitsproduct during the most recent quar-ter, with Turkey, Vietnam, and Bangladesh being its top des-tinations.Thisreflectedthe quickereconomicrecovery fromCOVIDinsomeover-seasmarketsrelativetothe pace of recovery in the U.S., said CEO Tamara Lundgren.Longerterm,Lundgren seesenvironmentalconcerns as benefitting the steel scrap industry. A low-carbon econ-omy is widely acknowledged as more metal-intensive, she said. Whether it is driven by the demand for electric cars, thedeploymentofrenew-ables,ortheefficiencyand convenienceofsmartgrids, agreeneconomymeansa metal-intensive economy.Besidessteel,Lundgren seesgrowingmarketsfor dozens of metals including alu-minum and copper. Demand for nickel is also likely to grow, she said, thanks to the rising use of wind, solar, and batteries for powergeneration.Although steel is not usually associated withgreenenergytechnolo-gies, the metal is important in the construction of wind energy components. We expect these trends toaccelerateandforthe recycledmetalindustryto playanincreasinglyimpor-tantrole,sheadded.We canseehowsomeoftheseCONTACT US AT:Ports of call - Beaumont, Freeport, Jacksonville, Baltimore, trendshavealreadybeenPhone: 516-488-8800 Wilmington, Livorno, Beirut, Aqaba, Jeddah, Jebel Ali, Abu translated into higher ferrous scrap metal usage. Website: www.LibertyGL.com Dhabi, Hamad Kuwait, Dammam, KarachiA recent McKinsey reportFor Rate Quotes: [email protected] Transshipment - Mersin, Alexandria, Bahrain, Mumbai,notedthatthesteelindus- For Bookings: [email protected] Abu Dhabi, Doha, Sohar'