EoW September 2012

It seems even the more remote parts of the UK are not exempt from wire and cable theft. Thieves caused damage to a bre optic cable in Loch Carron, Scotland, and left 7,000 people in Skye, Lochalsh and the Western Isles without telephone and Internet services. British Telecom managed to repair the cable during low tide on the loch and restore services. The full story is on page 12. Staying north of the border, on page 21 is the story of super-fast broadband being rolled out in Scotland to the tune of a further £32m. This is on top of the £68m that had already been made available in 2011 from the Rural Broadband Fund. In addition to these stories in the busy corporate news section, there is also an excellent feature on spring forming and bending (page 44), ranging from company news to latest developments in that sector of the industry. Our popular ‘Focus On’ feature this month turns towards Germany – home of the most important wire exhibition every two years in Düsseldorf. Aside from the successes at wire 2012, there’s a whole range of new machinery and news from one of the largest wire and cable producing areas of the world. See page 50. We then turn our attention to places a little further from home – China and India to be precise. At the forthcoming wire China 2012 in September, more than 750 companies will be exhibiting in Shanghai. Details are on page 60. Thieves head out to the Western Isles

* US$33 purchase only Front cover: AlphaGary See page 108 for further details

E DITOR : ....................................... David Bell F EATURES E DITOR (USA) : .........Dorothy Fabian E DITORIAL ASSISTANT : .................Christian Bradley D ESIGN /P RODUCTION : ................Julie Tomlin P RODUCTION : ..............................Lisa Benjamin S ALES & M ARKETING : ................Jason Smith ( I NTERNATIONAL ) UK & ROW sales

Giuliana Benedetto Italian speaking sales Hendrike Morriss German speaking sales Linda Li Chinese speaking sales Jeroo Norman Indian sales

A DVERTISEMENT C OORDINATOR : ............................Liz Hughes A CCOUNTS M ANAGER : ................Richard Babbedge S UBSCRIPTIONS : ..........................Liz Hughes P UBLISHER : ..................................Caroline Sullens F OUNDER : ....................................John C Hogg

INTRAS OFFICES

E UROPE :

46 Holly Walk, Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV32 4HY, UK

Tel : +44 1926 334137 Fax : +44 1926 314755

Email : eurowire@intras.co.uk Website : www.intras.co.uk Website : www.read-eurowire.com

USA :

A DVERTISING /M ARKETING Intras USA – Doug Zirkle Danbury Corporate Center, 107 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, CT 06811, USA Tel : +1 203 794 0444 Email : doug@intras.co.uk

And then a month later it is the turn of Wire and Cable India as companies head for Mumbai. The preview can be found on page 64.

US copies only : EuroWire (ISSN No: 1463-2438) is published bi-monthly by INTRAS Ltd and distributed in the US by DSW, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. Postmaster : send address changes to EuroWire, PO Box 437, Emigsville PA 17318-0437 www.read-eurowire.com © 2012 Intras Ltd, UK ISSN 1463-2438

David Bell Editor

When you have finished with this magazine please recycle it

4

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

8

Diary of events

9

Corporate News

26

Transatlantic Cable

30

Technology N ews

44

Spring forming & bending

9

50

Focus on Germany

60

wire China 2012

64

Wire & Cable India 2012

108 Editorial Index

30

108 Advertisers’ Index

Market News

Deutsch Inhalt 72

Neuigkeiten 108 Inserentenverzeichnis

79

Ηο

108

6

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

Technical Articles

GettingTechnical Fire resistant optical cable Features On • Steel wire, rod and rope production, machinery and equipment • IWCS 2012 Conference • Focus on USA Next Issue Subscribe Now! Visit us online at: www.read-eurowire.com

67 Extended quality control of cable insulation by colour measurement during extrusion By Dr Horst Scheid,

Siebe Engineering, Germany

Erhöhte Qualitätskontrolle bei der Kabelisolierung durch Farbmessung während der Extrusion

74

Von Dr Horst Scheid, Siebe Engineering, Deutschland

81

 -   , « » (

)

Contrôle de qualité de l’isolement des câbles amélioré moyennant la mesure de la couleur durant l’extrusion

89

Par Dr Horst Scheid, Siebe Engineering, Allemagne

Controllo di qualità dell’isolamento dei cavi migliorato mediante la misurazione del colore durante l’estrusione A cura del Dott. Horst Scheid, Siebe Engineering, Germania

96

103 Control de calidad mejorado del aislamiento de cables mediante medición del color durante la extrusión Por el Dr. Horst Scheid, Siebe Engineering, Alemania

Indice Español

Sommaire Français 87 Nouvelles du Marché 108 Index des Annonceurs

Indice Italiano 94

101 Noticias de Mercado 108 Indice de Anunciadores

Notizie del Mercato 108 Indice degli Inserzionisti

7

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

dates for your diary . . .

October 2012 30–1 Nov: wire and Cable India – trade exhibition – Mumbai, india Organisers : Messe Düsseldorf india Fax : +91 112 697 1746 Email : info@md-india.com Website : www.md-india.com

2012

September 2012

25–28: wire/Tube China – trade exhibition – Shanghai, China Organisers : Messe Düsseldorf China Ltd Fax : +86 216 169 8301 Email : www.shanghai@mdc.com.cn Website : www.mdc.com.cn

November 2012

11–14 Nov: IWCS – technical conference – rhode island, USA Organisers : iwCS Tel : +1 717 993 9500

Email : phudak@iwcs.org Website : www.iwcs.org

April 2013

23–25 Apr: Interwire – trade exhibition – Atlanta, Georgia, USA Organisers : wire Association international Fax : +1 203 453 8384 Email : info@wirenet.org Website : www.wirenet.org

June 2013

25–28 Jun: wire Russia – trade exhibition – Moscow, russia Organisers : Messe Dusseldorf GmbH Fax : +49 211 4560 7740 Email : info@wire-russia.com Website : www.wire-russia.com

September 2013

17–19 Sept: wire/Tube SE Asia – trade exhibition –Bangkok, Thailand Organisers : Messe Dusseldorf Asia Pte Ltd Fax : +65 6332 9655 Email : wire@mda.com.sg Website : www.wire-southeastasia.com

www.read-eurowire.com

8

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

Imagecourtesyofwww.bigstockphoto.com .PhotographerAjayBhaskar

Corporatenews

▲ ▲ Exhibit at the trade fair: X-Compound’s CK continuous kneader

Leading from the front after a booming Düsseldorf 2012

comprising all processing steps such as conveying, melting, dispersing, blending and degassing. The tendency on CV lines is towards high productivity lines with high output and/or speeds, as well as long continuous production times, and cable manufacturers are increasingly starting to compound their own insulation and sheathing materials. This trend bears out the decision to integrate X-Compound as a specialist in plastic compounding and processing. “This year’s wire was a huge success, not only because of concluded orders worth seven million euros – which is a new record. The general response we received at wire confirms that Troester, with its products and strategic approach, is one of the market leaders,” said Raul Friedrich, general manager of the cable machinery division. Troester GmbH & Co KG – Germany Website : www.troester.de

Troester, a leading manufacturer of complete extrusion lines for the cable industry, was delighted with the success of wire 2012 – especially from specialists at X-Compound, the new company of the group. “The Troester GS/k 90-16D extruder with a Qu 20 head and infrared channel for manufacturing of silicone cables proved conclusively that Troester is not just a leader for CV lines and technology, but also for lines and complete systems for all ranges of cables including special application,” said Dirk Schmidt, sales director of the cable machinery division. The company also presented a DQu 240 F, a double cross-head for sheathing of large cables up to 220mm diameter positioned on a cross-head maintenance trolley, as well as the prototype of a variable end seal for CV Lines. Lively technical discussion was generated also by X-Compound’s exhibit, a kneader (CK) for continuous compounding of flame-retardant materials, PVC- and XLPE-compounds

9

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

Rope length measuring machine produces results

Following the major success of the wire 2012 exhibition in D ü sseldorf, Bar Products & Services Ltd has gained further worldwide recognition for its full range of products. One of the major successes of the show was the wire rope measuring system. This new product attracted great interest with wire rope manufacturers, as well as wire rope service centres. The unit is capable of very accurate mechanical measuring of rope lengths to ±0.25% allowing precise cutting of required orders and decreasing waste. Developed using a five-roller system, the measuring machine can be used for wire ropes of diameters between 6mm and 40mm, and is ideal for use in wire rope service centres during re-spooling from stock reels to specific lengths required by the customer. The measuring machine, designed by Stonepark Consultancy and manufactured by Bar Products & Services Ltd, comprises five rollers overhung from a supporting structure. The rollers are opened by a hand-operated lever allowing the rope to be placed between the measuring rollers from the front of the machine. The rollers are closed onto the rope with a constant, pre-set load by means of tension springs.

▲ ▲ The wire rope measuring system from Bar Products and Services

A high degree of accuracy is achieved through use of precision ground, profiled rollers made from hardened steel. Measurements are recorded via a mechanical counter or alternatively by linking to an encoder or pulse generator. Bar Products & Services Ltd – UK Website : www.barproductsandservices.com

10

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

11

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

Thieves damage subsea cable

UK telecom provider BT has reconnected network cables to hundreds of homes in Scotland, after thieves damaged a subsea link. The firm described a “major engineering challenge” to restore telecoms services delivered via the fibre-optic cable in Loch Carron. An attempt was made to steal the cable in early June, with the perpetrators apparently believing it was made of copper wire. Up to 7,000 residents and businesses in Skye, Lochalsh and the Western Isles lost telephone and Internet services as a result of the network damage. Engineers had to wait until low tide to begin work to deploy a new section of cable, a task which took over six hours to complete. Robert Morrison, BT’s senior operations manager in the Highlands and Islands, said of the repair workers: “I really can’t praise their efforts highly enough as the sea was virtually lapping at their feet when they finished connecting the links in the loch,” adding, “I’d also like to thank the local coastguard for providing us with safety support.”

British Telecom – UK Website : www.bt.com

▲ ▲ Loch Carron. Photograph courtesy of johnbraid, Big Stock Photos

12

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

13

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

Nexans’ subsea saver

Berkeley County, Charleston, South Carolina is the chosen site for Nexans’ first high voltage power cable manufacturing plant in North America. When the first phase of the plant begins operations in 2014, it will focus on the manufacture of underground power cables up to extra high voltage (EHV) levels of 500kV. “The establishment of our first high voltage cable manufacturing plant in North America is a key strategic development for Nexans,” said Fréderic Michelland, Nexans senior corporate executive vice president responsible for the global high voltage and submarine cables business. This new plant will reinforce Nexans’ current product range in North America, adding to the existing medium voltage, low voltage, overhead transmission, industrial, building wire, electrical wire and LAN portfolios. New plant is American first

Statoil has contracted Nexans to engineer and supply a 16.5km subsea power umbilical to connect the Gullfaks C platform (located 160km west of Sognefjorden, Norway) to its subsea compression and processing equipment.

Nexans an early developer of umbilical technology and its power umbilicals integrate the functions of power cables and umbilicals in a single cable, enabling a high-voltage (HV) supply to be provided for deepwater projects. The power umbilical includes a number of steel tubes as well as fibre-optic elements, signal cables for control and monitoring, as well as insulated power cores, all being supplied from Nexans’ factories. By eliminating the need to transport and install separate power and control umbilicals, the power umbilical significantly reduces transportation and installation costs. Nexans – France Website : www.nexans.com ▲ ▲ Nexans will supply a subsea power cable to the Gullfaks C platform in Norway was

14

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

15

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

Two new faces at Simufact

Contract win for AFL in South Africa A UK manufacturer of fibre optic cable for power utilities, AFL Communications has secured a major contract with electricity company Eskom of South Africa, to supply and complete end-to-end communication systems, together with installation, supervision and final testing and commissioning. AFL is to supply optical ground wire (OPGW) to Eskom, and will be responsible for the installation of OPGW on green field sites and for retrofitting existing overhead lines with the OPGW system. Commercial director of AFL, Steve Maederer, said: “AFL has extensive experience and capabilities on complex projects like this.” The contract covers both the transmission and distribution aspects of the Eskom business, with projects in place across South Africa. While carrying out the projects, AFL will work with the local South African workforce, passing on a wide range of skills to employees of local installation companies. Eskom estimates that, over the contract’s five year duration, up to 11,000km of OPGW may be required to accommodate the planned routes.

Simufact global operation provider of software and services in the area of process simulation in the manufacturing industry, continues to grow. With Dr Ulrike Beyer as project manager joining technology, and Volker Mensing as director marketing and communications, the Hamburg-based company has expanded its competence with two more skilled experts. Simufact already appointed Dr Ralph Bernhardt as the new director research and development in January. Dr Beyer (41) will focus on business development in the area of joining technology. She studied mechanical engineering and industrial engineering at the Technical University of Chemnitz and graduated summa cum laude with her PhD on multi material joining. Engineering, a

▲ ▲ Volker Mensing

Subsequent to her employment at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology in Chemnitz and at T-Systems GmbH in Berlin, Dr Beyer worked from 2006 to 2012 as scientific assistance at the TU Chemnitz. In her new position she will pay particular attention to the numerical simulation of mechanical, chemical and thermal joining technologies. Volker Mensing (46), as the new director marketing and communications, takes responsibility for the development and internationalisation of the company’s communication and marketing activities. He holds a graduate degree in education and as a PR adviser (DAPR) and has been engaged in public relations and marketing in the IT sector for more than 15 years. Before he joined Simufact, he held the position of the head of the marketing and communications team at the Hanover-based, German-Indian IT service provider TUI InfoTec. Prior to that, he was director of communications at Werum Software & Systems AG in Lueneburg for more than nine years. Simufact Engineering – Germany Website : www.simufact.com

AFL Communications – UK Website : www.aflglobal.com

▲ ▲ Dr Ulrike Beyer

16

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

New Expowire network goes live

The launch of new releases at wire 2012 proved particularly successful for expowire.net. Companies, both exhibitors and visitors, joined up to showcase their services on the network which has been a reference point for companies during the last ten years. Even the wire, springs, fasteners and related industries are adapting to internet and new communications technology, and the benefits that www.expowire.net offers are considerable. 180,000 visitors (certified by Google Analytics) enter the network every year, visiting more than half a million pages. More than 13,000 companies are registered, and over 200 companies decided to use this opportunity to promote themselves. It is easier on the Internet to find your company on a social network, rather than just having your own website. “We created a hub,” explained manager Davide Dell’Oro. “The idea came to me by visiting the exhibition in Düsseldorf in 2002. In the multitude of stands, side by side, it is easy for a visitor to get lost. There is the lubricant manufacturer next to the wire-drawing factory, or the manufacturer of tools. “At expowire.net it is different: the search of the company, and of the product you’re interested in, becomes easy and functional, because in front of a computer you need to find what you want without wasting time. Traditional fairs and exhibitions are very important, the human contact will always have its value, and rightly so. But when the show ends, all year round, there’s expowire.net.”

▲ ▲ How the Expowire site looks now

Already translated into English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, the network will also soon be available in Russian and Chinese. And in the coming months the new version will be further implemented with new features, making the navigation faster and more powerful.

Expowire.net – Italy Website : www.expowire.net

Enel Green Power (EGP) has started operations at its 17MW Rancia 2 geothermal plant in Tuscany, Italy, part of a €500m industrial plan for the development of geothermal energy in the area. The plant will generate around 150 million kilowatt hours of power, saving the equivalent of 100,000 tonnes of CO 2 and 33,000 TOE (tonnes of oil equivalent) of fossil fuels per year. Enel Green Power’s CEO, Francesco Starace, said: “These works show our commitment to the continuous search for the improvement of the existing power fleet whereas, at the same time, we maintain our involvement in further increasing our generation capacity globally by putting new plants into operation.” Work is currently in progress on the Rancia 1 and Le Prata plants, located in the towns of Radicondoli (Siena) and Castelnuovo (Pisa) while the three Amiata-area geothermal plants, all located in the town of Piancastagnaio (Siena), are scheduled to enter service shortly, completely refurbished. Enal Green Power SpA – Italy Website : www.enelgreenpower.com Geothermal energy in Italy

18

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

OMM linking up BorWin2 wind farms

mattress and then releasing each into its location. OMM then used the Bourbon Enterprise to conduct a pre-lay grapnel run (PLGR) to clear the seabed of debris to ensure the route for the new Prysmian cable was clear and in good condition for cable installation. Offshore Marine Management – UK Website : www.offshoremm.com Partner programme for growth DuPont Teijin Films has introduced a Certified Mylar® Partner programme to support growth in the electrical insulation industry. provide excellence in product quality and service, aligned with the DuPont Teijin Film innovation strategy. Purchasing Mylar® polyester films from the Certified Mylar® Partners brings a range of benefits including: • Service and logistics: Quality & service through regular partner audits and a DuPont Teijin Films customer service hotline • Innovation: Access to new technology and tailored technical support • Communication: Market intelligence updates • Choice: Network of Certified Mylar® Partners DuPont Teijin Films is committed to maintaining its position as a leading producer of polyester film and continues to invest in capacity, innovation and people while implementing extensive business improvement programmes. Certified Mylar® Partners • Brand protection: Authentic Mylar® from certified partners

the preparation work was to identify and remove obsolete cables along the route, for safe disposal on shore. OMM then conducted mattressing of the existing in-service underwater assets, including telecommunication and electricity cables. Using a remotely operated underwater vehicle launched from the vessel, OMM’s team conducted a detailed survey of the sea bed, before identifying the correct position for each

Offshore Marine Management (OMM) has completed a contract for Prysmian Powerlink as preparations continue for the installation of BorWin2, connecting new wind farms off the coast of Germany. Using the 2,000 tonne multi-purpose vessel Bourbon Enterprise , OMM cleared the proposed route for the 124km (77 miles) high-voltage direct current export cable that will connect new wind power installations to the onshore grid. Part of

DuPont Teijin Films – UK Website : www.dupontteijinfilms.com

You can read all about it online at www.read-eurowire.com

20

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

New quality manager for Keighley

avenues for us and reassure our existing customers that we maintain the ultimate quality standards.” 

 In addition to membership of many distinguished trade associations, such as the North West Aerospace Alliance, Engineering Industries Association and Contract Heat Treatment Association, Keighley Labs holds a continually growing portfolio of quality accreditations. These include the essential UKAS Testing ISO/IEC 17025 standard, BSI Heat Treatment quality management system BS EN ISO 9100:2009 and its associated aerospace standard AS9100 Revision C, and BS EN ISO 9001:2008 quality management accreditation. Among Mr Clegg’s duties will be maintaining a documented quality assurance programme, supervising the work of quality control staff, providing relevant training and adding to the company’s extensive UKAS schedule of accreditation. Keighley Labs – UK Website : www.keighleylabs.co.uk

through the company’s comprehensive quality accreditation programme and maintaining awareness of correct H&S procedures throughout the organisation, which already has a good safety record. 
 “We are delighted that Tim is taking on this critical quality management role, because he has extensive metallurgical experience and is well respected within the company,” says Keighley Labs MD, Debbie Mellor. “This year is particularly important since we are looking to attain Airbus and NADCAP accreditations, recognised as the most technically demanding across industry, which will open up fresh market

Keighley Laboratories, leading industry experts in the analysis, testing and heat treatment of metals, has appointed Tim Clegg as its quality manager, replacing the long-term incumbent Peter Warriner, who is retiring. Tim originally served his apprenticeship with the company, during which he gained a Metallurgical Technician diploma from Bradford College, before working for a nearby engineering firm for 20 years. He returned to Keighley Labs last year as its health and safety manager and a senior quality management trainee.

He will now perform a dual role, steering

New website and look for Plasmait Plasmait GmbH, a supplier of plasma heat and surface treatment lines for wire, tube and strip production, has updated its website – www.plasmait.com. Newly presented on the website is the PV ribbon tinning line used for production of PV ribbon, as well as the overview of PlasmaANNEALER, which has been successful ly installed in copper and copper alloy annealing, stainless steel and nickel alloy applications. Plasmait GmbH – Austria Website : www.plasmait.com

Fibre cables will be rolled out across a larger area of Scotland, since the Treasury made additional funds available for super-fast broadband north of the border. In 2011, Scotland was awarded £68.8 million from the government’s £530 million Rural Broadband Fund, which is designed to ensure universal access to high-speed broadband by 2015. An extra £32 million has now been added, meaning more Scottish communities could receive fibre-enabled super-fast connections in the coming months. The funding change comes after a Treasury spending review, and should please the Scottish government which has previously criticised the level of funding for broadband investment in rural parts of the country. Scottish secretary Michael Moore said: “Providing Scotland with high-speed broadband is essential for businesses to grow and to create the new jobs we need. “That is why the UK government believes broadband is essential, not only for everyday life but also for the future economic success of Scotland and the UK.” More broadband cash for Scotland

Scottish Government – Scotland Website : www.scotland.gov.uk

21

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

REG in action in Yorkshire

Wind farm developer and operator Renewable Energy Generation (REG) has announced the commercial operation of its 10MW Sancton Hill Wind Farm in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The wind farm uses five units of Vestas 2MW Gridstreamer wind turbines, and is expected to generate around 28,500MWh of electricity annually – an increase of over 25 per cent of REG’s present output. REG’s CEO, Andrew Whalley, said the wind project has been completed on time and to budget and with an excellent wind resource will provide many years of sustainable energy. “Sancton Hill increases REG’s operational projects to 51MW generating around 135,000MWh of clean energy per annum,” he said. has also begun construction at its 6MW South Sharpley site in County Durham in northern England. Completion is scheduled for late 2012. Renewable Energy Generation – UK Website : www.renewableenergyregeneration.co.uk Renewable Energy Generation

pic to come here

▲ ▲ Sancton Hill Wind Farm in Yorkshire

22

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

News Corporate

New European sales manager

H i g h - p e r f o r m a n c e lubricant specialist Metalube has expanded its sales team with the appointment of David Cole as sales manager. He brings to the company over 20 years of experience within the tube and wire drawing lubricants industry and is responsible for Metalube’s European sales. Commenting appointment, Douglas Hunt, commercial director, on the

▲ ▲ David Cole

said: “David will be a valuable addition to our team. Metalube is growing fast and high calibre specialists like David will help us to achieve our ambitious goals. David brings with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise and I am delighted to welcome him on-board.” Metalube continues to buck worldwide economic trends by enjoying significant growth. The company specialises in tube and wire drawing lubricants, protective greases for overhead conductors and metal cutting fluids. Lubricool™, Alumol™, Tubol™, OCG™ and Metacut™ are the high-performance industrial oils and greases for which it is renowned. Over 20 per cent of Metalube’s workforce is dedicated to science, ensuring technical excellence and innovation across its products and services. Metalube Ltd – UK Website : www.metalube.co.uk Cable for Beirut Nexans has completed a $1.6 million cable contract for Majid Al-Futtaim Properties to supply the power, communications and fire safety cables required for the construction of Beirut City Centre – a 158,000m 2 shopping mall, estimated to be costing $40 million. Designed by Samir Khairallah & Partners (SKP), an architectural, planning and engineering firm, Beirut City Centre will meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system – which aims to provide building owners and operators with a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions. Nexans, through its subsidiary, Liban cables, has manufactured and supplied 170km of power cable (low and medium voltage), 68km of fire resistant cable (to be used in lighting and elevators) and 15km of specialised communication cables for the building, which has already obtained the LEED Core Shell 2009 Silver Certificate. Nexans – France Website : www.nexans.com

24

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

Transatlantic Cable

† The $1.4 billion terminal for international passengers at Harts eld-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Georgia, which opened in May at the nation’s largest airport by number of passengers. The work, part of a $6 billion renovation plan, includes a 1.2 million-square-foot concourse (roughly the size of 21 football elds), 12 additional boarding gates, more than 3,500 additional parking spots, and a new highway entrance † Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, in Texas, which is conducting a seven-year, $2 billion renovation of its older terminals to add more parking and concession stands and bigger security lanes † Los Angeles International Airport, in California, where a $4.1 billion expansion programme was begun three years ago. The latest phase is a $1.5 billion new international terminal – billed as the largest public works project in the city’s history – that will add 18 gates capable of accommodating the largest planes, including the Airbus A380. Mr Mouawad observed that LAX currently has only two gates capable of handling the A380, although ve A380 ights land there every day Congested New York The Times noted that the important New York area airports – all three of them in densely populated areas – have little wiggle room for new tra c. (Their combined footprint is one-quarter that of Denver International Airport, in Colorado, which spreads over nearly 53 square miles of unpopulated prairie.) But according to PATH’s Mr Foye: “Each has the ability to make better use of its real estate.” Among the e orts in that direction: † At Kennedy, Delta Air Lines is currently building a $1.2 billion expansion to Terminal 4, which will eventually replace the obsolete Terminal 3, built in 1960 as Pan American’s Worldport. That circular terminal – in Mr Mouawad’s view “an embarrassment to both the airport and the airline, and a dreaded destination for passengers” – will be demolished next year, once Delta’s new terminal is completed. Likewise, to make room for the $200 million expansion of JetBlue’s Terminal 5, JFK will tear down Terminal 6. The 1969 building, known as the National Airlines Sundrome and renowned for its sweeping glass walls, was designed by the architect I M Pei. † La Guardia Airport and Newark Liberty are also getting badly needed makeovers. PATH is planning a $3.6 billion rebuild of the ageing Central Terminal Building at La Guardia, which opened in 1964. A similar $2 billion plan is also under consideration for the replacement of Terminal A at Newark. A $350 million renovation of Terminal B there is nearly nished. “Airports are businesses,” declared Jerry Orr, the chief executive

Airport rebuilding boom

Overtaken by the era of 500-passenger planes, airports in the United States are in a rush to remedy their de ciencies

The British consulting rm Skytrax recently reported that six of the ten airports best liked by travellers are in Asia, three in Europe, and one in Canada. Conspicuously absent from that list are any airports in the United States. In sorry contrast to such favourites as Frankfurt Airport, Changi Airport in Singapore, and Hong Kong International Airport, which consistently fare well in traveller surveys, US airports receive low marks for customer service, drawing many more complaints about delays, congestion, and older facilities. Commenting on this in the New York Times , airline correspondent Jad Mouawad noted that, for years during which passenger tra c slowed and airlines struggled to make a pro t, the major domestic airports put o necessary improvements. But, he wrote: “They can no longer a ord to wait. Symbols of the jet age, like Kennedy Airport’s 50-year-old Terminal 3, are obsolete and falling apart.” Mr Mouawad pointed out that most airports in the US are owned by cities or local authorities but are not dependent on taxpayer money to nance themselves; they are, therefore, less a ected by the current political imperative to rein in spending. Thus, at a time when federal and state public works programmes are stalled, the nation’s biggest airports are in the midst of major renovations or expansions that, taken together, represent some of the largest infrastructure projects in the country. (“Building Boom Takes Hold at US Airports,” 14 th June). Investments in airports “are going to be among the largest public work projects going on around the country,” Patrick Foye, the executive director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PATH), told the Times . His agency owns ve airports, including Kennedy Airport, La Guardia Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport. The billion-dollar outlays are concentrated at the largest international gateways. Many of these airports have ageing terminals, some built in the 1960s and 1970s, that are ill suited to the crowds, security lanes, and aircraft of today. Helping to spur much of the new investment is the need to accommodate such behemoths as the double-deck Airbus A380, which seats 500 passengers. Other motivating factors cited by Mr Mouawad are airline mergers and the increase in the number of foreign carriers ying into the United States. Notable examples of the extensive new construction activity would include the following:

Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Zsolt Ercsel

26

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

Transatlantic cable

certain facts in making the determination whether the product was in fact being dumped in China. A peculiarity of the case was China’s complaint that the steel was being sold at unfairly cheap prices in its own market. China, the producer of almost half the world’s steel, is often accused of this behaviour in the United States, which has imposed punitive duties on Chinese steel imports. As recently as May, Beijing had made those US duties the basis of a separate trade complaint at the WTO. While both countries deny that they are engaged in a trade war, the tensions generated in these matters are undeniable. Typically, China hotly rejects American criticisms of its policies, whereupon the US faults China’s “apparently retaliatory conduct.” Tim Reif, general counsel in the US Trade Representative’s o ce, reprised this theme when the WTO panel’s judgment was announced, telling reporters in Washington that the disallowed duties appeared to be part of a “disturbing trend of China using its trade remedy laws without justi cation.” But Mr Reif did not leave it at that. He warned that Washington could bring another case at the WTO if China goes after more US products in retaliation for duties the United States has imposed on Chinese solar panels and wind turbines. “We are watching those actions like a hawk,” said the trade o cial. † China imposed the punitive duties after its top silicon steel producers, Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, complained about imports from the United States and Russia, which is not a WTO member and was not involved in the case. The Chinese steel giants objected to the “Buy America” provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the procurement laws of some state governments.

of Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which has about $1 billion in improvements in the works. This bracing realisation is nding belated but fervid expression all across the United States.

Steel

The World Trade Organization nds that Chinese duties on American high-tech steel violatedWTO rules

In a key victory for the administration of President Barack Obama, a World Trade Organization panel ruled that China violated global trade rules by imposing duties on a speciality steel product imported from the United States. The decision, announced on 15 th June, supports objections raised by the US to Chinese countervailing duties on electrical steel that is produced mainly in two presidential battleground states: Ohio and Pennsylvania. It enables Mr Obama, a Democrat, to argue that his trade policies on China are yielding results as he vies with his Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the run-up to the November election. The case involved Chinese duties on potentially hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grain-oriented at-rolled electrical steel made by AK Steel Corp (West Chester, Ohio) and ATI Allegheny Ludlum (Pittsburgh) for use in the power sector. The WTO found that China launched an investigation into US subsidies on the steel on insu cient evidence, and ignored

Payoff Flyers and Winders

Payoff with dancer accumulator and double pivot to pre-load

Flyer Payoff with dancer accumulator for spools dia 100 mm to dia 300 mm

Spooler

for spools dia 20 mm to dia 100 mm, with revolution counter to preset and automatic stop, operates with single or double spoolseat

for spools dia 560 mm to dia 800 mm, tension adjustment by magnetic particle brake or hysteresis brake

Flyer Payoff to put in bobbin hole for spools dia 500 mm to dia 1250 mm

Driven Tangential Payoff

Take Up

for spools dia 560 mm to dia 800 mm

with tension and rpm control by sensor and frequency inverter for single wire, multiwire and flat wire sections for spools up to dia 800 mm

mobac GmbH Bunsenstr. 1 • D-24145 Kiel Phone +49 (0)431-65 0277 Fax +49 (0)431-65 0511 mobac@t-online.de

www.mobac.com High Quality Products for Wire and Cable Industries

Transatlantic cable

† At this stage not much is clear except that the stando will likely produce a clash of titans, and that Severstal will be a nimble-footed one. Business Insider recalled that Severstal has switched its trade tactics towards the US more than once over the years. The company’s owner, Alexei Mordashov, most recently “changed tack” when Russia achieved market economy status – as de ned by Washington. Mr Helmer concluded: “In February, trade o cials for the US and Russian governments started new negotiations on their issues in Washington. The talks are continuing, with a deadline for revising the terms of their steel trade by late September, a few weeks before the American elections.”

† The Chinese tari s on the steel imported from the US, which AK Steel said amounted to about 19.5 per cent on its products, will remain in force pending China’s appeal from the WTO decision. While a rming that right of appeal, Mr Reif had an interim suggestion for Beijing: that it “take on board the [WTO panel’s ruling] and comply promptly.”

In Washington, Russia’s Severstal and Nucor lock horns over the alleged

dumping of hot-rolled steel in the US market Its victory over China in the matter of electrical steel exports (See “World Trade Organization,” previous page) may have to serve the US steel industry with all the exultation it is going to enjoy for a while. Another international trade dispute – the rst involving Russian exports since Russia was accepted into the WTO late last year – is looming in the International Trade Administration (ITA), with potential to create considerable turbulence. The ITA is an agency of the US Department of Commerce with a mission to safeguard American companies from unfair competition. In response to a request from Nucor Corp (Charlotte, North Carolina) the ITA is looking into the claim that Severstal, the largest steel company in Russia, dumped “hot-rolled at-rolled carbon-quality steel product” in the American market. Alan Price, the Washington attorney for Nucor, the largest US mini-mill operator, has said he expects to achieve penalty import duties against several categories of hot-rolled steel from Russia of between 78 per cent and 180 per cent. This would be su cient to kill the trade, which in 2011 generated 5.7 million metric tons of Russian exports to the US, worth $3.8 billion. As noted in Business Insider by John Helmer, widely known as the foreign correspondent with the longest continuous service in Russia, Nucor’s claim for penalties against the Russian imports is based on a 15-year old calculation of Russian steel manufacturing costs and prices. Writing from Moscow, he explained that, because Russia’s economy was classi ed as a “non-market economy” at the time, the calculation by the Department of Commerce was not made on the basis of direct Russian evidence. (“Who’s for Competition in This Steel Trade Contest?”, 10 th June). In such cases, US trade law permitted data for costs and pro ts to be taken from a surrogate-country steelmaker, applied to the “non-market economy” steelmaker, then used to estimate a dumping margin and thus inform the penalty duties. The American case against Russian steel was based on price data generated between 1996 and 1999 – in Brazil. “Nucor’s case is thus based on a technicality of US trade law which its lawyer argues the Russians have been taking advantage of,” Mr Helmer wrote. “According to Mr Price, Nucor wants to swing the technicalities vice versa.” In response to the American claims, the Russian steel industry association Russkaya Stal said that there has been no violation of the trade agreement that has been in place since 1999; no evidence of unlawful price competition in the US market by Russian hot-rolled steel; and no justi cation in US trade law for the import penalties and deal breakers Nucor would like to see.

Telecom

Europe’s operators complain to the UN that American content providers are free-loading on the world’s bandwidth

A group representing 35 European telecommunications companies wants to charge US-based Internet giants like Facebook, Google and Net ix a bandwidth fee for the privilege of servicing their own users in Europe. The Brussels-based European Telecommunications Network Operators Association (ETNO) submitted a proposal to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the specialised Geneva-based United Nations agency, calling for a levy on American sites and providers reaching out to their customers outside of the United States. Condensing a report developed by CNET (7 th June) from ETNO documents, Rawiya Kameirif of ITProPortal wrote that the leaked materials add context to long-running complaints from European telecoms that American content providers consume global bandwidth “for free.” The principle being urged by ETNO – that “the sending party [network] pays” – would oblige US content providers to pay a per-minute price, as determined by the user’s network operator, to reach non-US customers. The UN has previously contemplated various forms of “Internet taxes” but not implemented any of them. While it is unclear whether this latest proposal has real prospects, it is nonetheless highly controversial. Ms Kameirif wrote: “Some experts have expressed fears that, while it could prove to be a boon for governments looking for additional forms of revenue, a tax of this nature could serve to isolate people around the globe.” Sally Shipman Wentworth, senior manager for public policy at the Internet Society (Reston, Virginia) is among those in opposition. Pronouncing the ETNO proposal “extremely worrisome,” she declared that it could create “an enormous amount” of legal uncertainty and commercial uncertainty. CNET’s Declan McCullagh and Larry Downes also mentioned concerns raised by the Obama administration and members of Congress “about a radical re-engineering of the Internet ecosystem,” allowing governments to monitor or restrict their citizens’ online activities. † According to the CNET reporters, the leaked documents were posted by the website WCITLeaks, created by two policy analysts at the free-market Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia.

28

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012

Transatlantic cable

To place this in perspective, at the bottom of the recent recession the American economy was 5.1 per cent smaller than it had been at the peak. The only other such episode since the Great Depression to shave as much as 3 per cent from gross domestic product (GDP) was the 1973-1975 recession, brought on by the shock of high oil prices. It took seven quarters for the American economy to regain all its losses from that downturn. This time, the recovery from recession – the deepest since World War II – took twice as long. But, as noted by Mr Norris, when its economy hit its low the United States appeared to rank in the middle group of industrialised countries in terms of severity of recession. Portugal appeared to have escaped, with a maximum decline of just 4.1 per cent; Spain, with a loss of slightly less than 5 per cent. † Now, Portugal has su ered a total decline of 5.2 per cent; and Spain may be headed to a new low. Italy, which like Spain is nding lenders hesitant to buy government bonds, has reported declines in GDP for three quarters. Greece has endured 13 consecutive quarters of decline, with no end in sight. Ireland for a time appeared to be a relative success story, as its GDP grew at a rate of more than 4 per cent in the rst half of 2011. But it fell back later in the year. While comparisons may seem particularly odious during the current euro crisis, con rmation of the resilience and steady strengthening of the world’s largest economy has to be reassuring. Of related interest… † Mexico has also been generating some welcome economic news. When Mexican President Felipe Calderón hosted the Group of 20 major industrialised and emerging economies 17 th -19 th June, he was able to point to 17 years of macroeconomic stability, low in ation, manageable debt, an open economy, and increasing competitiveness. Mexico’s GDP expanded 3.9 per cent last year, ahead of Brazil’s growth of 2.7 per cent, and appears set to outpace that of its larger Latin American rival again in 2012. Nissan, Mazda and Honda have all announced that they would build new plants in Mexico, and investments in aerospace and electronics are also on the horizon. In the meantime, fuelling the modest expansion, Mexican factories are exporting record quantities of TV sets, cars, computers and appliances, replacing some Chinese imports in the United States. The reversal in the fortunes of Mexico and Brazil (which as recently as 2010 achieved annual growth of 7.5 per cent) can be traced in a 10-year-old automotive trade accord between the two countries. For most of the pact’s life, Brazil sent more cars to Mexico than it took in; but in 2011 that changed, with imports of Mexican-made cars surging 70 per cent to $2.4 billion. This March, Mexico agreed to cut its exports to Brazil to an average of $1.55 billion annually for the next three years, to be followed by restoration of free trade.

The “Wikileaks-esque” name is a reference to the ITU’s December summit in Dubai, the World Conference on International Telecommunications, or WCIT.

Elsewhere in telecom . . . † As it continues to shrink its wireline business, Verizon Communications Inc on 4 th June announced that it had sent out the latest in its series of buyout o ers: this one to 1,700 workers, mainly call-centre employees and technicians. The buyout programme is part of a Verizon e ort to cut its wireline costs as households either drift to competing carriers or cancel their land-based phone lines, opting instead to rely on cellphones. A company spokesman said the target was to have the employees leave by the end of July. If not enough acceptances were received, layo s were to be a possibility. The o er applied to less than one per cent of Verizon’s overall workforce – 191,800 as of 31 st March – and about two per cent of its wireline workforce. Verizon is the second-largest xed telephony provider in the United States, after AT&T. Through several subsidiaries it provides local landline services in 11 states and the District of Columbia. As well as being a likely major issue in the presidential election in November, the apparently slow pace of the American economic recovery is a matter of concern worldwide. A credit crisis in the United States sent the world into recession in 2008, and as a bellwether of economic health the US has only grown in signi cance in the interim. What, then, in mid-2012, can reliably be said about the American economy? Floyd Norris, the chief nancial correspondent of the New York Times , recently supplied statistics indicating that, by the standards of other developed countries, the American economy has in fact been doing rather well. Adjusted for in ation, it was 1.2 per cent larger in the rst quarter of this year than it was in the peak quarter before the recession. (“A Slow Recovery in the United States, but It’s All Relative,” 15 th June). Mr Norris charted the performance of the Group of 7 industrialised nations, including three members of the euro zone, and that of seven other countries that use the euro. Of the 14, the United States is alone in showing consistent growth over the four quarters through March. Even if its pace of growth has not been very fast, the nation has reported a growing economy for 11 consecutive quarters. Only Canada among the Group of 7 has done better than the US, having bene ted from being an exporter of natural resources to China. It also escaped the worst of the downturn because Canadian banks, better regulated than their American counterparts, did not nance a real estate bubble. But Mr Norris noted that even Canada posted a decline in one quarter of last year. The economy While the pace of growth in the US may not be very brisk, the economy has grown for 11 consecutive quarters

Dorothy Fabian USA Editor

29

www.read-eurowire.com

September 2012