The CBH Group, South Perth, Australia’s largest grains cooperative, earlier this month received its first-ever shipment of liquid fertilizer at the Kwinana Grain Terminal.
CBH Fertiliser on April 7 received 23,800 mt of UAN aboard the Fairchem Blue Shark, following its 46-day journey from Donaldsonville, La., the Australian group said in an April 13 statement.
The vessel was the first non-grain vessel to berth at the terminal since it was built in 1974.
“The vessel is the first of two UAN shipments expected at the terminal this year, providing up to 50,000 mt of additional UAN supply to Western Australian grain growers, helping us deliver a competitively-priced product, ” said CBH Head of Fertilizer David Pritchard.
The UAN will be transferred via a purpose-built 1.5 kilometer pipeline into two tanks at the group’s Kwinana Fertiliser Facility, which opened in March (GM March 17, p. 29).
The new fertilizer facility marked the start of CBH’s liquid fertilizer business and expands its granular fertilizer capacity by 15,000 mt. The new facility has capacity to store 32,000 mt of UAN and 55,000 mt of bulk granular fertilizer.
“Increasing the scale of our fertilizer business is a fantastic step towards achieving our strategic objective of holding a 15% market share in Western Australia by 2033,” said Pritchard.
By entering the UAN market, he said CBH is encouraging “competitive tension” in the local fertilizer market and improving consistency of supply for growers when they need it the most.