Key transactions & industry news Weekly Update 02/21/2025

Metals & Mining

Speira and SMS Group join forces to revolutionise aluminum scrap handling with AI-powered optimisation. Speira’s Recycling Services and SMS group have formed a strategic partnership to enhance operational standards through advanced digitalisation technologies for scrap handling at Speira’s sites in Töging am Inn, Grevenbroich, and Deizisau.

Why Is Constellium increasing prices for flat-rolled aluminum products? Constellium, the Paris-based aluminum business, has determined to increase a minimum price of $0.15 per pound for all flat-rolled products shipped in the US, owing to the recent market conditions and revolving economic drivers. The price increase is to be effective immediately after announcements, as per the contracts’ appropriation. As a result, select products may require higher increases.

Japan and Vietnam pilot through individualistic route to deal with Trump’s tariff. Japan has officially requested an exemption from US President Donald Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as other reciprocal tariffs. Meanwhile, Vietnam is prepared to engage with the United States to discuss the new tariffs on steel imposed by Washington, aiming to avoid the risk of additional duties, as stated by a spokesperson for its foreign ministry.

Transportation & Logistics

Trinity Q4 results fall on lower railcar deliveries. Trinity Industries saw revenue and profit fall in the fourth quarter on fewer deliveries of new railcars and said US tariffs are expected to cut industry deliveries by 20% in 2025. For 24Q4, Trinity reported revenue of $629M, down from $798M year over year, and operating profit of $112M, off from $149M. Pretax earnings fell to $191M from $225M. Diluted earnings per share totaled 39 cents from 82 cents a year ago. Trinity delivered 3,760 railcars in the quarter and recorded 1,500 new orders. Lease fleet utilization was 97% with a future lease rate differential (FLRD) of positive-24.3% at quarter’s end. The owned lease fleet was 109,635 cars, up from 109,295 y/y. Investor-owned lease cars was higher at 34,230 from 33,005.

TFI acknowledges US LTL ‘disaster’ and difficult Daseke integration in Q4. While the theme of TFI International’s fourth-quarter earnings call was much like that of the third quarter – its US less-than-truckload operations are struggling years after the acquisition of UPS Freight. Continuing into this quarter, TFI’s CEO Bedard said the former Daseke operations still suffer from “a very high pressure on rates,” though he added the decline has “stabilized.” “But the number of miles are down and our costs also are too high,” he said.

Trucking execs see green shoots as industry awaits upturn. Signs that a freight recovery may be taking shape continue to surface, said trucking executives on the investor conference circuit this week. The overall sentiment is that the truckload industry is no longer in a recession and that normal seasonal trends have returned, but no one is ready to commit to when a meaningful positive inflection will occur. “We know we’re coming off the bottom of the market,” Drew Wilkerson, CEO at truck broker RXO (NYSE: RXO), told investors at Citi’s 2025 Global Industrial Tech and Mobility Conference in Miami on Wednesday. “You are starting to see the signs of a market that’s shifting. The thing that’s not known is, what’s the pace of the recovery?”

Energy

US piles pressure on Iraq to resume Kurdish oil exports. US President Donald Trump’s administration is piling pressure on Iraq to allow Kurdish oil exports to restart or face sanctions alongside Iran, eight sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. A speedy resumption of exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region would help to offset a potential fall in Iranian oil exports, which Washington has pledged to cut to zero as part of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

Others

US business activity stalling; consumers’ inflation expectations surge. US business activity nearly stalled in February amid mounting fears over tariffs on imports and deep cuts in federal government spending, erasing all the gains notched in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s election victory.