Car Shredder Not Embraced

Here's an export success story you don't hear very often in Philadelphia:

A local business has a hot product that Chinese customers can't get enough of.

The company wants to build a new plant, bring new export business to the port, and hire more than 100 employees.

Good news all around, right?

Only one problem: the product is scrap metal.

And the company - Camden Iron & Metal Inc. - has set its sights for a new car shredder and shipping terminal on Port Richmond, a community with a very different view of its future.

Camden Iron wants to close its South Philadelphia car shredder near the Penrose Avenue Bridge and move its recycling operation to Port Richmond.

And instead of trucking scrap to Camden's docks to ship to other U.S. ports or abroad, the company would shift much of that business to Philadelphia, said John Bantivoglio 3d, vice president of Camden Iron.

A few years ago, the project may have faced less resistance. But it comes at a time of significant change in Port Richmond. New homes are cropping up - from small developments on vacant lots to a sprawling, 700-home riverfront community in neighboring Bridesburg.

Critics of the car shredder say they'd rather see more homes and stores in Port Richmond than industrial projects. In addition to the Camden Iron plan, the Philadelphia Gas Works also has a major industrial project on the drawing boards: a terminal for handling tankers of liquefied natural gas.

"They want to bring LNG to Port Richmond and now this? Come on," said Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, whose district includes Port Richmond. "There's no way I'd support something like that."

She said the neighborhood was "thriving." The newest residential plan is a 29-townhouse development on Richmond Street, just on the other side of Interstate 95 from the proposed car shredder. Homes would sell for more than $300,000.

Krajewski said the sentiment in the neighborhood is "unanimous for houses." She said she is concerned about the noise level and truck traffic that the 24-hour operation would bring to the community.

Talks between officials of Camden Iron and the city, state and port are ongoing, according to William McLaughlin, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority. Among the remaining issues are financing the land for the project, as well as input from the community, he said.

Bantivoglio said the company could save money on transportation by moving closer to the river. Currently, it trucks scrap metal from the recycling facility in South Philadelphia to the Camden port.

In addition, he said the shredder near the Penrose Avenue Bridge is outdated. The Port Richmond facility, which would be enclosed, would use technology that is more sensitive to environmental concerns, he said.

A shredder does just that. It rips apart cars and appliances and recovers steel; nonferrous metals like copper, aluminum and brass; rubber and anything else that can be reused.

Camden Iron, a private, family-run business, is the largest scrap-metal supplier in the Philadelphia area. More than half of the company's revenues now come from exports, with the strongest demand from China, Bantivoglio said. The company now has an office in Shanghai.

Industrywide, U.S. exports of scrap steel to China have increased by eightfold in the last five years, according to the Steel Recycling Institute. Meanwhile, U.S. exports of scrap copper have jumped by fourfold in the same period, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

If Camden Iron sets up in Port Richmond, it will ship less from Camden, Bantivoglio said. Last year, the company had 89 vessels call on the Beckett Street Terminal and shipped more than 500,000 tons of metal.

"We intend to keep that facility, but we won't be shipping the same amount of tons out of South Jersey as in the past," Bantivoglio said.

In the last year, Bantivoglio has fought to preserve the Camden riverfront for industry. Camden's redevelopment agency, on the other hand, would like to encourage more residential development along the river - a sentiment echoed in Port Richmond.

Bantivoglio said the Port Richmond property already has been set aside by the city as an industrial area. It's located across the street from the port authority's Tioga Terminal.

"There's no housing on that side of I-95," he said, adding that trucks hauling flattened cars for shredding would not have to pass through residential blocks.