<article><p class="lead">US recycler and steelmaker Schnitzer Steel has resumed operations at its mega-shredder near Boston, Massachusetts, today after a nearly five-month outage. </p><p>Shredding activity at Schnitzer's Everett shredder was <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2344228">paused in mid-June</a> amid issues involving the shredder's regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO), which was <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2297779">damaged by a fire in early-December</a>.</p><p>The resumption of shredding operations is not expected to meaningfully affect current shredder feed price levels immediately, as the recycler is expected to spend the next few weeks working through a backlog of feeder yard materials, according to sources familiar with the matter. </p><p>Shredder feed buying prices across the region plummeted and have remained depressed compared with pricing in other markets along the northeastern seaboard since the shredder went off line.</p><p><i>Argus</i> assessed shredder feed prices in Boston at $130-140/gt delivered export yard on 8 November, substantially lower from prices across Albany, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which averaged $202.50/gt delivered export yard this week. </p><p>Schnitzer's Everett shredder, which has an estimated daily throughput maximum of 2,500 short tons/day, serves as the major consumer of light iron for Boston and the surrounding region.</p><p>Regional scrap suppliers were forced to pivot sales to alternative outlets either domestically or along the east coast following the outage.</p><p>Other neighboring shredders include Sims Metal Management in New Haven, Connecticut; Excel Recycling in Freetown, Massachusetts; and Grimmel Industries in Topsham, Maine.</p><p>Despite the outage Schnitzer continued to ship deep-sea bulk vessels from the Everett facility with a total of five cargoes shipped since June, according to US commerce data and <i>Argus</i> analysis of vessel tracking data. </p><p class="bylines">By Brad MacAulay</p></article>
