Aluminum Scrap Markets
October 22, 2025
Logan and Novelis awarded over $3 million for rail upgrades
Written by Nicholas Bell
Two of Kentucky’s most prominent aluminum producers – Logan Aluminum and Novelis – have received more than $3 million in state transportation grants to expand rail infrastructure.
The initiative aims to enhance the logistical ecosystem between Logan’s casting and rolling operations in Russellville and Novelis’ scrap processing operations in Berea.
The awards were issued through the Kentucky Industrial Access and Safety Improvement (KIASI) program, administered by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Logan-Novelis junction
Novelis and Logan are tightly linked.
Novelis holds a stake in Logan Aluminum, which operates as a joint venture between Novelis and Tri-Arrows Aluminum. Novelis’ Berea recycling complex, one of the world’s largest used beverage can (UBC) recycling centers, melts roughly 20% of all aluminum cans collected in the U.S. into sheet ingot, according to the company. Those ingots are shipped west to Logan’s rolling mill, where they are transformed into beverage-can sheet that supplies nearly 45% of the North American market. Together, the Berea and Russellville operations form a regional closed-loop network in which scrap is recycled, cast, and rolled.
Berea expansion
Novelis was awarded $1.875 million toward a $4.9 million rail-infrastructure project at its Berea recycling center.
The project will build a CSX-connected spur (a track that branches off of a main line), two to three additional storage tracks, and a concrete pad for loading and unloading operations.
All on-site tracks are occupied by outbound ingot shipments to Logan, preventing inbound scrap deliveries by rail. Scrap moves by truck – as many as 40 truckloads per day from Berea to Logan. Once complete, the Berea site will be able to receive scrap and ship ingots to Logan entirely by rail.
An engineering study is expected to begin later this year, followed by construction within 12-18 months. With roughly six months of buildout once the work begins, completion is projected for late 2027.
DC4 expansion
Logan Aluminum received $1.22 million in matching KIASI funds for a $2.43-million project to add 2,100 feet of track connecting its DC4 casting center to the plant’s existing rail network – the complementary half of Novelis’ rail investment.
The new line will allow inbound deliveries or raw materials by rail and link the casting center directly to Logan’s ingot storage yard with on-site transfers.
Taking the U.S. Geological Survey’s figures for total used cans melted or consumed by the aluminum industry in 2024 and Novelis’ state market share for Berea, the Berea-Russellville connection represents roughly 115,000 metric tons of UBC scrap moving annually into Logan’s rolling mill.
Logan expects to complete engineering and permitting within four months of the award, followed by a one-month bid process and seven to nine months of construction, placing completion around mid-2026.
Logan’s first track extension
In January, Logan secured a separate $1.48 million KIASI grant for a track extension, adding 2,490 feet of track to accommodate inbound shipments from Novelis’ Greensboro, GA facility.
Novelis Greensboro plant produces and ships more than 140,000 metric tons of ingot annually to Logan.
The added rail capacity at Russellville’s northwest and southwest portions of Logan’s site will shift this traffic from truck to rail as well, eliminating an estimated 5,160 truckloads a year.
Logan planned to begin construction within six months of the January 2025 award and complete the work three to four months later, putting that project’s completion in late 2025.
