Tube City, shipper kick up dust over dirt in ferrous scrap cargo

Nov 03, 2010 | 07:57 AM | Michael Marley

Tube City IMS LLC's foreign trading unit ran into some rough seas recently as it became embroiled in a complaint over dirt in a cargo of ferrous scrap unloaded at a Turkish port, but the flap appears to be much ado about nothing as neither side admits any fault.

The incident—in which the ship owner, and not the Turkish mill buying the scrap, complained about dirt in a cargo that originated in the Netherlands—did not result in a lawsuit and was resolved with the Turkish steelmaker accepting the cargo and paying the agreed upon price for the 80/20 mix of No. 1 and No. 2 heavy melting steel scrap.

While the Turkish steelmaker accepted the shipment without any complaint and Tube City was paid for the scrap, Detlef Mueller, managing director of Tube City IMS' U.S. Ferrous Trading Division, warned that problems could occur for other scrap exporters, especially when involving cargoes sold through a bank letter of credit and if made when ferrous scrap prices were declining.....