Upstate Shredding plans Albany port

OWEGO — The state’s largest scrap-yard business has plans to get even bigger.

Upstate Shredding, LLC plans to open a scrap yard and deep-water port in Albany in early 2013, company owner Adam Weitsman says.

“We’ll break ground in the next 30 days,” he says, provided the company receives the expected zoning variance for which it has applied. While waiting for that approval, Weitsman has already started the bid process for a general contractor to build the $15 million facility, which will include offices, warehouses, a maintenance facility, and all new equipment on an 18-acre parcel.

Upstate Shredding already operates 11 locations around New York and in Pennsylvania, but having a port will open up a new growth opportunity for the company through overseas sales, Weitsman says. 

“Turkey is probably the biggest user of scrap in the world,” he says.

The Albany location, once it’s online, will give Upstate Shredding the chance to shop around for the best scrap prices and move a larger volume of scrap, Weitsman says. When domestic prices are lower, Upstate Shredding will have the option to ship more scrap overseas, for example, he says.

“The port should increase our business by 35 percent, maybe 40 percent,” he says. “It’s going to be a monster facility.” He says the port, which also has rail service, will draw from around New England, into Canada, and along the East Coast.

He expects the port will push Upstate Shredding’s revenues from an anticipated $600 billion this year to nearly $1 billion in 2013. Upstate Shredding is funding the project entirely with company cash and is not asking for any economic-development incentives. Weitsman says he believes grants and other economic incentives are there for companies in need, not for profitable businesses such as Upstate Shredding.

He hopes to have the port facility open in six months, employing 40 people to start. “Once it opens, it’ll be 60 (employees), and when we hire the drivers, it’ll be 100,” Weitsman says.

Along with the port, Weitsman is busy scouting out other new locations for Upstate Shredding. The company’s growth in recent years has been a mix of both organic growth and growth through acquisitions.

In some markets, Weitsman notes, existing scrap yards are grandfathered into local laws and there is no easy way to open a new facility. In those cases, Upstate Shredding looks to acquire an existing business, such as when it acquired Brenner Recycling, Inc., a retail scrap-metal and recycling company in Hazelton, Pa. in 2011.

Weitsman says the company is looking to open additional locations in Pennsylvania as well as New Jersey. Earlier this month, Weitsman traveled to New Castle, Pa. to research the purchase of a bankrupt scrap yard, according to posts he made on Facebook. Weitsman says he’s also eyeing Buffalo and Poughkeepsie for future New York locations.

“It’s the perfect storm for our company to grow,” Weitsman says. Demand for scrap is high, and the company, which is relatively debt-free, is financially in a position to expand, he notes.

Through its Upstate Shredding and Ben Weitsman brands, the company operates scrap yards in Owego, Binghamton, Buffalo, Syracuse, Liberty, Ithaca, Jamestown, and Rochester, as well as the Pennsylvania facility. Upstate Shredding does not have a facility in the Utica–Rome region, but does business in the area as it purchases scrap from a local scrap yard.

The company employs 310 people companywide.       

Contact DeLore at tdelore@tmvbj.com