Case Studies

Vital Statistics

Project: First ship of the year to export metal from Ward’s Immingham dock
Client: Habas
Sector(s): Reinforcing bar production
Material(s): Ferrous scrap metal
Location:  UK – Chesterfield & Immingham
Date: February 2019

In brief

#TeamWARD had to pull out all the stops to hit the deadline for its first shipment of scrap metal to Turkey in 2019 or face a £15,000 cost for every day of delay. With 20,000 tonnes of metal to recover, process and load onto the 200 metre-long vessel, it was a race against time for brothers Thomas and Donald Ward and their teams.

Increasing exports

In April 2018 Ward opened its fifth site, a dock at ABP Ports in Immingham. The £1million+ investment was a key milestone for the fourth generation, independent family business in expanding its metal processing capabilities and increasing its export potential.

The 2.5 acre port facility near Grimsby, with the capacity to hold up to 30,000 tonnes of material at a time on stock, enables the deep sea shipping of metal cargo to new destinations, particularly Turkey – the main importer of scrap metal in the world.

Meeting the challenge

Having worked hard to find buyers, including foundries and rebar producers, they were on countdown to load the first ship with 20,000 tonnes of Heavy Melting Steel (HMS) 1 and 2, grade 80:20 destined for Habas in Nemrut Bay, Turkey. With just one week until the scheduled date of departure, the Ward teams in both Immingham and its sister site in Chesterfield, worked around the clock to prepare scrap metal for loading.

Sustainable success

After a week’s hard graft, at the end of the shift, the team had successfully met the 20,000 tonne target to send the ship to Turkey on time. A huge win for Ward and a sustainable success story for a pile of scrap. Within two weeks of arriving in Turkey, 4,000 nautical miles away, it would be melted in a furnace to make new products. The recycled metal will be then be shipped around the world giving it new life.

“Many of the pieces of metal were probably produced in steelworks here in the UK many years ago and then used in building for 100 years and now they’ll leave and find a new home abroad. This first ship of 2019 heading for Turkey was another major milestone for Ward and our metals business. The team’s done really well, really pushed it.”

– Thomas Ward, Commercial Director

Download the full case study here. Or watch for yourself as it featured on Sky show “Scrap Kings – The Seven Million Dollar Man” in 2019. You can watch the full episode at cutt.ly/scrap-kings

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