Steel tariffs drive up ice rink construction costs for American customers of Winnipeg metal plant

A Winnipeg-based metal plant says U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum will hurt its American customers who build artificial ice rinks — casting uncertainty over the future of contracts with the Canadian company at a time when the business is expanding. 

"Canada has a particular expertise in ice rink construction. A lot of the major contractors are from here.… There's all those products going south of the border that are going to be going to be tariffed," said Rick Koss, who is the former owner of Hunter Wire and still works with the family business in a transitional capacity.

Among its products are ice rink pipe chairs — a steel-wire structure used in the construction of rinks that hold the rebar installed in an arena's floor and the refrigeration pipe used to cool the ice. 

"Somebody's paying the tariff on it. In this case, it's our customer," Koss said.

The company began manufacturing the pipe chairs in the early 1960s, before improving the original design and patenting it. 

Hunter Wire is now the main supplier of the product, Koss said, supplying anywhere from 150 to 200 rinks in North America every year, including professional facilities.

"Any NHL rink, we did it," said Koss. "You don't see it, but the product that's in that project is ours."

About 30 per cent of the rink chairs are exported to the U.S. Under the Canada-United States-Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement, the product is exempted from tariffs.

But as of Wednesday, a 25 per cent levy will be applied to any of the rink chairs going to the U.S., after President Donald Trump imposed punishing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Customers "pretty much have to bite the bullet and pay the increased price," said Koss.

Hunter Wire's ice rink pipe chairs are a relatively "sole source item" for rink construction, manufactured with specialized machinery. It would take a new business at least $1 million in investments to get into the industry, said Koss.

"It's not a big enough marketplace for 10 competitors. It's just not worth it," he said. "We're a little sheltered that way."

As well, pipe sizes and their placement on the concrete slabs vary from one arena to the next, he said. 

"If there was only one type, somebody would be producing it in China and shipping it over … but every rink is unique, every engineer is unique."