[TheForge] Moving metal around

[Ries Niemi]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2005, at 08:20 PM, gblacksmith wrote:

> Speaking of movement between states, I have a friend who is a metal 
> sculptor and is moving from from CA to the Baltimore, MD, area.  He 
> was wondering if it would be cost effective to move his  metal pile 
> (around 2 tons) to MD.
>
> He would be willig to wait for a steamship to sail it around the 
> Panama Canal for a decent rate, and pick it up himself.  Likely he 
> could pack it loose in a container.
>
> He was wondering about the economic feasibility, given the cost of 
> steel these days, and the retention of the odd shapes in his pile that 
> he uses in his work.  What do you folks think?   Grant
>

2 tons is nothing- I ship those kinda weights all the time, and its 
pretty cheap, relatively speaking.
by truck. My guess is that by ship thru the panama canal is gonna be 
more expensive than by semi, on the highway.

But lets do the math.
assume that the 2 tons is mixed, in terms of profile, so we can assign 
an average price per pound of say,  .60/lb.
Making its replacement value, if he bought new steel in maryland, at 
something like 2400$
I would call a couple places in Maryland and check on actual per pound 
prices of similar stuff, but my guess is even if you jack it up to a 
buck a pound, figuring he has a bunch of pipe and other more expensive 
stuff, its still only about $4000 max replacement value. Probably less, 
as there are more junkyards in the east coast.
Since California is right across the pond from the big metal recycling 
countries, scrap tends to be rarer and pricier in Cali than back east.

Now to ship an entire container, they dont really do it by weight- your 
container takes up 1 spot on a ship, or an entire 40' trailer. So it 
doesnt matter too much whether your container weighs 40,000lbs, or 
4,000lbs. And by sea, my guess is the freight, plus dock handling fees 
at either end, is gonna get darn close to your 4 grand figure, and 
certainly more than 2400.

Again, he can make some calls and check for sure, but I would be amazed 
if it is cheaper to ship 2 tons by sea than to just buy all new steel 
at the other end.

What might make sense is if he just shipped his entire shop by truck, 
including the scrap steel. Schneider National, for example, will drop 
off a 53 ft semi trailer at your shop, and leave it there for a few 
days while you load it, then come back, and take it to maryland. I did 
that when I moved from LA to Seattle, and the whole trailer cost me 
about $2500. It would be more to the east coast, but it is surprisingly 
little to ship a whole truck at a time, compared to common carrier, or 
moving vans.

ries