Milestones for PA, Upcoming Schedule, Ocean
Freight Continues to Rise
2024 has been an exciting first half!
- April we traveled to Chinaplas and also to see the grand opening of RIKE’s 3rd CPE plant which is far more innovative than earlier facilities
- May we reunited with industry colleagues for the first NPE since 2018
- June we celebrated our 500 millionth pound sold
- July we got news of our +Vantage Vinyl verification
We are anxiously antipicating what the rest of the year holds and it should have some interesting swings. The election year will have everyones attention on what to expect for the next 4 years in terms of policy, economy and interest rates. I hope one of the things we can expect are lower and more consistent ocean freight costs which have been on the rise since start of the year.
Supply chain scarcity is what caused us to originally add our line of 19% tin stabilizer in 2020 and now we add a line of waxes for the same reason. Scroll down to our “Featured Product” section to learn more on this.
The continued support from our customers is what allows us to keep tacking on these milestones and, hopefully, contributing to this important industry. Big thanks to everyone involved!
Sincerely,
Eric Vanderpool
Vice President – Sales
1⁄2 A Billion Pounds Sold
June of this year was a milestone for Performance Additives as we sold our 500 millionth pound of PVC additives. This number was never even considered during the company’s founding in 2005 but the hard work of our employees and the trust of our customers has allowed us to grow into a significant part of the PVC industry. For that, we are all very grateful!
+Vantage Vinyl Certified!
Thanks to the hard work of our technical manager, Paul Finch, we were able to work through the +Vantage Vinyl process this year and received an official certification in July. This certification from the Vinyl Sustainability Council (VSC) was established to help promote a sustainable future in the vinyl industry and we couldn’t be more pleased to be a part of it! The effort looks at equality in the workplace, established procedures for sustainability, giving back to the community, participation in the industry, and more. +Vantage Vinyl was the goal, but it is not the end. We will continue to push forward on our sustainability efforts and building a stronger industry.
2024 Show Calendar
- September 9th – 12th : IEC in Pittsburgh, PA (BOOTH# 1013)
- September 16th – 19th : FGIA in Minneapolis, MN
- September 30th – October 1st : GlassBuild in Dallas, TX
- October 6th – 8th: PPFA in Monterrey, CA
- October 22nd – 24th : Vinyltec in Chicago, IL
- November 13th – 14th : AMI Compounding Conference in Cleveland, OH (BOOTH# C424)
- December 9th – 12th : Vinyl Week in Louisville, KY
Product Focus – merKon L-629 OPE Wax
Supply chain scarcity has us exploring a full line of waxes and the 629 OPE Wax is the first in our product focus.
Performance Additives L – 629 is a low density oxidized polyethylene homopolymer for use in coatings as a rheological aid. It is also used as a metal release agent in PVC and a pigment dispersing agent for color masterbatch. It can also be in aqueous applications, such as textiles, lubricants, coatings and inks, to lower the COF. This provides resistance to mar & abrasion, as well as increased slip.
Product Advantages
- Excellent metal release
- Provides abrasion and mar resistance
- Rheological aid in solvent borne coatings
Low Ocean Freight Capacity Causing Price Increases
Global ocean freight rates for Performance Additives and all North American shippers have increased significantly from start of year 2024 to present. Markets have already seen spot rates increase dramatically over the past 6 months, but since a majority of our ocean freight is run under contract rates, we have been able to combat and mitigate the rapidly rising spot rates up until this point.
Now with capacity getting even tighter and contract rates not being honored by large carriers lie Maersk, some of this mitigation will disappear. In an effort to keep material flowing, we have been forced to move material on spot rates which drives up the total shipping costs significantly.
Looking into the crystal ball, we hope to see things settle back down by then end of August or September which should effect the supply chain around December/January and allow for a strong start to 2025. However, as I mentioned earlier in the newsletter, the election year makes any crystal ball quite blurry.
