EoW July 2014

Transatlantic cable

In brief † The 4 th May accident that badly injured nine members of a circus troupe and two other people during a Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey performance in Providence, Rhode Island, was caused by the failure of a 4- to 5-inch steel D-ring attached to an overhead rig, according to the lead investigator for the city’s re department. “It was a single piece of equipment that failed,” re investigator Paul Doughty told reporters on 5 th May. He said that the D-ring – also known as a carabiner clip, or simply carabiner – was rated for about 10,000 pounds, and that the combined weight of the performers and the apparatus that was brought down was about 1,500 pounds. Mr Doughty declined to say if the rigging appeared safe, but Providence re chief Clarence Cunha said his crews would not rely for safety on a single carabiner. On 7 th May, Michael Pearson of CNN reported that the investigation into what caused the carabiner in Providence to break into three pieces and fall to the ground was ongoing. † The French government carabiner clip said on 5 th May that it would oppose General Electric’s $13.5 billion o er for the power generation and transmission businesses of Alstom, which make turbines for nuclear, coal and gas power plants and the grid infrastructure to deliver electricity. The largest industrial conglomerate in France had endorsed the o er by GE (Fair eld, Connecticut) to acquire the energy units, which would leave Alstom with only its transportation business, a producer of trains, rail equipment and related infrastructure. France’s economy minister, Arnaud Montebourg, had earlier suggested Siemens, the giant German conglomerate, as a likelier partner for Alstom. In the week before GE made its o er, Siemens, a rival, said that its own prospective bid would propose a transfer of Siemens’s transportation business to Alstom in exchange for the energy businesses sought by General Electric. Although the government of French President François Hollande is Alstom’s most important customer, its legal means of stopping a GE acquisition – short of withholding approval on national security grounds – would appear to be limited. † An Idaho-based maker of interlocking solar panels is exploring their use in existing infrastructure – roads, parking lots, driveways – to generate power. As described by guest auto blogger Anthony Ingram in the Christian Science Monitor (May 15), the “rather fascinating” product from Solar Roadways comprises hexagonal glass tiles that act as solar panel and computer in one. Each panel contains a layout of photovoltaic cells (currently covering around two thirds of the tile, with the eventual aim of 100 per cent coverage) and is laced with microprocessors. These “smart panels” relay information – via active, real-time arrows, words and signals – even as they generate energy. A thin mesh of heating elements buried within the tile keeps road surfaces snow-free for winter driving and provides a boost to energy production. “It’s wildly unfeasible that roadways will generate solar energy in the short term,” Mr Ingram acknowledged, “and possibly even for decades and decades to come.” But he does see great potential in parking lots, in particular, for generating power enough from solar panels to charge electric vehicles. Dorothy Fabian – USA Editor Energy

subsidise the cost of doing business. In 2011, the world’s top 46 companies were state-owned, and those companies accounted for 38 per cent of global production that year, according to the report. American steelmakers led 38 trade cases in 2013. As noted by John W Miller and Chuin-Wei Yap of the Wall Street Journal , this was the highest number since 2001, when the industry won White House backing for higher tari s and penalties on state-subsidised or otherwise unfairly traded steel. Only two cases have been resolved, but a dozen rulings are expected this summer. (“US Steel Imports Spark Trade Complaints,” 13 th May). As well as oversupply abroad the surge in imports re ects strong US demand spurred by energy drillers and a resurgent auto industry. First-quarter steel imports by US companies rose 36 per cent from a year earlier to 10.6 million metric tons, according to research by Global Trade Information Services. That was the highest level since the record 13 million tons reached in 2006. Mill operators such as AK Steel Corp, US Steel Corp and ArcelorMittal want to slow imports of nished steel. But John Packard, the publisher of Steel Market Update , pointed out to the WSJ reporters that many of these rms are themselves big importers of raw steel. AK Steel said that it has always imported some steel as needed. A spokesman did not directly address the issue of tari s but said: “We think we can always compete on a level playing eld.” A US Steel expediter in Ohio also provided a not quite to-the-point response, citing the general e ect of low-priced imports. “It’s not just those of us who work at US Steel who are a ected by unfair trade,” Ralph Mercado said in a news release. “It’s our families, neighbours, and other business owners.” † Manufacturers and steel processors consulted by the WSJ expressed their opposition to tari s. Je Himmel, president of Artco Steel Corp (White Plains, New York), asserted that domestic steel mills tend to use the trade laws as “a commercial weapon.” Sometimes trade cases are justi ed, said Mr Himmel, whose company imports half its steel for processing into plate which is then processed further into nished goods – “and sometimes they are not.” Lisa Goldenberg, president of Delaware Steel Co, a Pennsylvania distributor, mentioned another angle. Observing that foreign steel at a discount of up to 20 per cent may not always be a bargain, she said, in May: “I can order the foreign steel and get it in August. But the domestic mills don’t have a price for August yet, so I don’t know if [the foreign material] is a good deal or not.” † For their part, Messrs Miller and Yap of the Wall Street Journal wrote: “Many economists say the solution is to close some mills – in the US as well as abroad.” Of related interest . . . † In addition to global steel production overcapacity and pressure from imports, the president and CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc (Fort Wayne, Indiana) noted the challenge to US steelmakers of tighter spreads between scrap and blast furnace raw materials. But in his 6 th May keynote speech at the Association for Iron & Steel Technology annual conference in Indianapolis, Mark D Millett also said that he sees strong growth ahead for the domestic steel industry, thanks to a rebounding national economy and increasing domestic shale gas production. ArcelorMittal declined to comment.

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July 2014