ATSSA reaches out to state DOTs for help regarding resin shortage

ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner today sent a letter to the heads of state Departments of Transportation requesting assistance in light of the current shortage of base resin.

Two major manufacturers of base resin are currently unable to provide the substance used in High Friction Surface Treatment applications due to circumstances beyond their control, Tetschner explains in the letter. He notes that the issue is related to February’s extreme weather events in the Midwest and Texas.

“With US-based materials supply limited, increased costs over the last several months, and a significant delay in shipping overseas materials to the United States, it is likely that some already agreed upon supply contract deadlines will be impacted,” Tetschner states in today’s letter to DOT secretaries across the country.

He explains that manufacturers normally can access the supplies within 10 days from U.S. suppliers or within 30 days from international suppliers but that neither supply line is currently meeting those timeframes. As a result, and without information on when that will change, Tetschner made two requests.

He “strongly urged” them to “to provide flexibility on liquidated damages provisions within your contracts for High Friction Surface Treatment projects due to the lack of availability of domestic base resin and the severe delay in international product which resulted from the current unforeseeable, extreme circumstances.”

He also asked them to “consider price supports on selected projects that have been affected by dramatic volatility in raw materials pricing” and noted that base resin prices more than doubled from Dec. 1 to March 1 and there was no indication that would change.

“While the exact time horizon of these impacts is unknown, the industry is currently hopeful that both the price and supply situation will begin to resolve itself as the year progresses,” Tetschner said. “We do urge you to continue your efforts to effectively utilize HFST as an important safety countermeasure to reduce roadway injuries and fatalities. We do anticipate this shortage to pass, and the industry is committed to meeting the need for improvements to roadway safety.”