Shipping large coils of steel by sea requires highly specialized skills and handling, and there are very few forwarders who have gained expertise in what is a highly specialized niche segment.  Coil-Tainer Limited, a Westchester, Pennsylvania based forwarding company, is one such company that has specialized in transporting and shipping large and heavy steel coils.   Michael J. Smolenski, President/CEO of Coil-Tainer, says that his company, through years of handling of heavy steel coils, has developed what he describes as a “revolutionary method” for transporting the commodity.  At the recent three-day Steel Success Strategies-XXIX conference in New York – the heavyweights of the world’s steel industry descended on New York to attend this event - Smolenski told the American Journal of Transportation that his company had developed special pallets to transport steel coils, and thus ensure that the coils are protected against damage.   “With these special pallets, our company is capable of transporting steel in a shipping container with ease.  The coils do not move during the shipment phase and remain firmly embedded in the pallets, thus preventing any possible damage resulting from the coils shaking or slipping,” he explained.  Coil-Tainer, which handled 173,586 tonnes in 2013 and 47,756 tonnes in the first quarter of 2014, closely monitors trends developments in the steel sector, both in the U.S. and worldwide.  “The ocean transportation world seems pretty quiet.  Rates have held steady and I do not foresee that changing for the remainder of 2014.  It will be interesting to see the reaction of other ocean carriers now that the P3 (Maersk, MSC, CMA), alliance has been denied,” Smolenski said. But, he added, the “more difficult issue is trucking in the USA”.  The trucking problem became acute for transportation companies in the United States because of the long and extreme winter that disrupted cargo movement both within and outside the country.  “The problem began with the difficult winter, but the change in driving hours and the more stringent penalties assessed to drivers for infractions created a shortage of drivers that is not expected to change in the foreseeable future.  Indeed, it has become difficult to get trucks for deliveries, and the premium required to secure them have become the new ‘normal’ rate.   (But) our tonnage is holding steady, although a bit down from two years ago.  Our trade out of the USA remains strong and steady.  I expect 2015/16 should be the years for the comeback for the steel sector,” Smolenski observed.  Meanwhile, Coil-Tainer has succeeded in breaking into new markets such as Spain, Denmark, Italy and Belgium.   The Belgian port city of Antwerp has evolved into an important distribution centre in Europe for Coil-Tainer, which moves large consignments of steel from there to Germany and the Benelux countries.   From Antwerp, Coil-Tainer also ships steel consignments to the East Coast of the U.S. and to Chicago, Illinois.   Shipments to the U.S. East Coast are meant, largely, for use by the American automobile industry. “A steel coil weighs, on an average, 10 tonnes, but we can also transport coils weighing much more,’’ said Smolenski. Besides Turkey, China and other Asian countries, Coil-Tainer also has built up a customer base in Europe and South America. “Because of the high-value of steel products, our customers are very particular about steel coils reaching their customers in good condition,” Smolenski said.  Coil-Tainer also works closely with the railways in Austria, Germany and Netherlands as its customer base in Europe expands. Commenting on the global outlook for steel, he said, “We believe that the markets in the Middle East will stagnate for some time. China continues to be a promising market. South Korea is an attractive market. We are also interested in India.” Coil-Tainer was set up a year after a conference in Antwerp in November 1997 attended by shipping companies, pallet designers, steel-manufacturing companies and others connected with the steel business to discuss a different way of transporting steel other than the traditional bulk carriers. After this and subsequent meetings, a highly-specialized steel-transportation system in containers was developed, using special pallets developed for transporting coils and protecting the containers’ structural integrity.  After a four-month planning period, Coil-Tainer was born in 1998. Through this revolutionary new transportation concept, the transport of steel coils could be carried out in a more flexible manner. For example, steel coils weighing up to 25 tonnes could be transported with coils of different weights. Prior to 1997, steel coils were shipped in a conventional manner by bulk carriers.  The development of the new concept accelerated because of difficulties in bulk goods’ transportation, including irregular ship-sailing schedules, longer transit times, limited port calls, and damages caused by inappropriate handling.  Smolenski said his company had overcome these problems and streamlined the shipment process after coordinating with manufacturers.   Shipments via containers are also not without problems which can manifest in problematic  and time-consuming loading/unloading, potential container floor damage due to weight concentration (many ocean carriers will not accept coils for shipment), possibility of coils breaking away from bracing causing severe damage, higher insurance costs, shipper liability, etc. Smolenski claims that his company can safely handle coils up to 25,000 kg with its specially-designed pallets. Over 3,000 Coil-Tainer pallets are in use worldwide, he maintains. According to Smolenski, Coil-Tainer pallets have been certified by MariTerm AB, a consultancy company with operations primarily in the freight transport sectors.  Coil-Tainer pallets are stackable in a container for repositioning transport.   US Steel Industry Worried Foreign Steel Could “Flood”  Market The New York SSS-XXIX conference which discussed a wide range of issues connected with the steel industry, including steel prices, transportation issues, flat-rolled steel demand and market forecasts, also highlighted the “flood” of cheap foreign steel imports, as some U.S. steel Cassandras called it. In view of rising U.S. steel imports, which threatened American jobs in the steel industry, U.S. steel companies called for imposing punitive duties on imports.  According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the U.S. imported a total of 4,016,000 net tons of steel in May 2014, including 2,925,000 tons of finished steel (+7.4% and +6.4% respectively over April).  The year-to-date total and finished steel imports amounted to 17,480,000 and 12,829,000 net tons respectively, posting a 32% and 23% growth respectively over the year-earlier period. The largest volumes of finished steel imports in May came from South Korea (584,000 tons, + 45% over April), China (303,000 tons, -27%), Turkey (149,000 tons, + 5%), Japan (145,000 tons, - 31%), and Taiwan (106,000 tons, +19%).   During the first five months of the year, the largest foreign suppliers were South Korea (2,152,000 tons, +42%), China (1,286,000 tons, +73%), Japan (852,000 tons, +3%), Turkey (760,000 tons, +19%) and Russia (501,000 tons, + 324%). Russia, with an incredible 324% increase in exports in the first five months of 2014, faced the ire of the U.S. steel industry which, as of writing this story, was considering contesting the trade agreement with Russia on imports of hot-rolled steel. The 1999 trade agreement with Russia was ironed out after the Cold War to protect Russian hot-rolled coil (HRC) suppliers against high anti-dumping duties, and setting a minimum price which many U.S. steel companies have criticized as very low despite an upward revision in 2012.  Steel industry representatives urged Washington to impose restrictions or completely rescind those exemptions granted under the agreement.   The call to impose restrictions on Russian steel imports comes at a time when bilateral relations, particularly after Russia’s forcible Crimea takeover from Ukraine, are already strained.   A cancellation or even modification of the agreement may certainly benefit U.S. companies but it would hurt Russian steelmaker Severstal which could face anti-dumping duties of some 73.59% while other Russian steelmakers as Novolipetsk Steel and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel World would face duties as high as 184.56%.  Mario Longhi, the president/CEO of United States Steel Corp. raised the challenge of global overcapacity and the impact of foreign steel dumping on American jobs in his June 25 testimony before a Senate Finance Committee.   Jobs are the Achilles’ heel of American politicians who face considerable heat in times of high unemployment.  Apparently, Longhi touched a sensitive political nerve when he addressed the committee, urging it to empower the Customs and Border Protection Agency to take swift action when dumping or countervailing duty orders are evaded through transshipment, misclassification, misreporting or outright falsification of import documents.   “A year ago, U. S. Steel and other domestic Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) producers filed a trade case against nine countries based on the enormous 113% increase of imported OCTG products into this market between 2010-2012. Primarily South Korean companies are the main violators, but companies from India, Vietnam, Turkey and several other countries also dump very significant volumes,” Longhi said.