Recycling Industry’s Response to West Coast Ports Agreement

(Washington, DC) -- In response to the tentative agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, Robin Wiener, president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), released the following statement:

“Recyclers are pleased that an agreement appears to be in place ending a dispute that caused significant harm to our industry and others in the manufacturing sector. We thank Congress and the Administration for their involvement to get this tentative agreement. Despite the agreement, it will still take several months for operations to return to normal and for recyclers to recover from the damage that was done. Already facing a drop in prices, recyclers witnessed a decline in exports which left many forced to cut their workforce and set aside investments needed to grow their business. There may still be long-term consequences we face such as lost overseas markets. Both sides are encouraged to ratify the agreement quickly and work to restore full operations and begin to clear the backlogs at the ports as soon as possible.”

In 2014, scrap exports from West Coast ports declined nearly 12 percent year-on-year to less than $8.4 billion. The slowdown in scrap exports from the West Coast became more pronounced as the year progressed and the port situation deteriorated. In December 2014, the value of scrap exports from the West Coast plunged 17 percent year-on-year, reflecting a year-over-year volume decrease of nearly 160,000 metric tons of scrap and a decline in scrap export sales approaching $130 million for the month of December alone.

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