Gerdau Ameristeel Acquires Metro Recycling
Gerdau Ameristeel, Tampa, Fla., has acquired Metro Recycling, a scrap processor headquartered in Guelph, Ontario. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Metro Recycling operates two yards in Guelph and a yard in Mississauga, Ontario.
"Metro’s operations and experienced leadership team will enhance Gerdau
Ameristeel’s continuing strategy to grow our scrap processing capability throughout North America," says Matt Yeatman, Gerdau Ameristeel VP of raw materials. "Metro is an excellent complement to our existing recycling and production facilities."
Gerdau Ameristeel has annual manufacturing capacity of about 12 million tons of mill-finished steel products. In addition to a network of 19 mini-mills (including one 50 percent owned joint-venture project), the company has 22 scrap recycling facilities and 66 downstream operations.
IMO Environmental Committee Finalizes Draft of Ship Scrapping ProgramThe Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization has approved the text of the draft ship recycling convention for adoption at a conference next year.
The MEPC conducted an article-by-article and regulation-by-regulation review of the draft new convention providing globally applicable regulations for ship recycling and for recycling activities.
The text will be circulated for consideration and adoption by a diplomatic conference to be held in Hong Kong, China, May 11-15, 2009.
The new convention will provide regulations for the design, construction, operation and preparation of ships so as to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships; the operation of ship recycling facilities in a safe and environmentally sound manner; and the establishment of an appropriate enforcement mechanism for ship recycling, incorporating certification and reporting requirements.
Ships to be sent for recycling will be required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials specific to each ship, while an appendix to the convention will provide a list of hazardous materials of which the installation or use in ships is prohibited or restricted in shipyards, ship repair yards and ships of parties to the future convention. Ships will have to have an initial survey to verify the inventory of hazardous materials, surveys during the life of the ship and a final survey prior to recycling.
Ship recycling yards will be required to provide a "Ship Recycling Plan" to specify the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory. Parties will be required to take effective measures to ensure that ship recycling facilities under their jurisdiction comply with the convention.
A series of guidelines are being developed to assist in the implementation of the new convention, while the entry into force criteria for the convention (number of states required and percentage of gross merchant shipping tonnage) will be decided by the 2009 conference when formally adopting the proposed convention.
IMO says it has cooperated with the International Labor Organization and the relevant bodies of the Basel Convention on ship recycling in developing the new draft convention.
PortCheck Begins Clean Truck Fee Collection
PortCheck Inc., the nonprofit company created by marine terminal operators to collect the Clean Truck Fee (CTF) for the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, began collecting the fee Nov. 17. Enforcement of electronic gate access at the marine container terminals began Nov. 10.
All cargo must be claimed before the CTF can be paid. Beginning Nov. 17, no cargo will be allowed to enter or exit from a marine container terminal unless the cargo has been claimed. Under the ports’ program, the cargo owner (the party named on the bill of lading) is responsible for paying the CTF.
Prior to the availability of the official PortCheck Web site, PortCheck urges cargo owners that are not registered with PierPASS to register on the PierPASS site at www.pierpass-tmf.org.
Starting Nov. 10, licensed motor carriers are required to have a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag installed on their trucks to enter the terminals. Only trucks that are registered in the drayage truck registry to a valid port concessionaire, have paid their registration fees and are equipped with working RFID tags will be admitted to marine container terminals.
On Oct. 22 the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach signed an agreement with PortCheck, contracting it to collect the fees and enforce a ban on trucks older than model year 1989.
Information on the Clean Trucks Program is available at the ports’ Web sites at www.polb.com/cleantrucks and www.portoflosangeles.org/cleantrucks.
DJJ Opens Hong Kong Office
The David Joseph Co. (DJJ), a Nucor subsidiary, has opened an international office in Hong Kong. The office enables the Cincinnati-based firm to expand its global presence, while moving closer to its worldwide customers.
The new office will provide improved service from DJJ’s current and potential Asian customers, according to the company, and will focus on ferrous, nonferrous and ferro-alloy scrap.
Ryan Eckert will oversee the ferrous scrap sourcing and sales side, while Steve Bolhuis will handle the nonferrous scrap business from the company’s Hong Kong office.
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