Two Scrap Dealers Win Bid to Handle Steel Beams from WTC

New York City issued the first of what is expected to be a number of bids to handle the steel beams pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center bombing.

The first bid, issued by the New York City Department of Design and Construction, came out Sept. 21. The contract was then awarded early the next week. That contact was awarded to two companies, each slated to handle half of the 50,000 tons of steel that is being barged from the WTC site..

The two winning bids went to Hugo Neu Schnitzer and Metal Management, which both are taking in 25,000 tons of the material via barge.

Hugo Neu’s Claremont facility in Jersey City, N.J., will be taking in its lot of the steel beams being generated. Metal Management will be taking in the barge shipments at its Port Newark facility in Newark, N.J.

Due to the size of the material that is being shipped, the number of scrap processors who would be able to handle the material is limited.

Alan Ratner, president of Metal Management Northeast, says his company is using torch cutters, as well as mobile cutters and fixed shears to reduce the large steel beams into manageable sizes.

Bob Kelman, vice president of Hugo Neu, agrees that the size and weight of the beams make the process of converting the metal into a more easy-to-handle format is very difficult.