There was a three-alarm fire at a Growmark facility in East Liverpool, Ohio, Sunday night, Feb. 22. At least one building was engulfed.
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Miss Phos readies for quick sale – Alert
After months of legal back-and-forth, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Jackson, Miss., on Feb. 20 approved a sales procedure for Mississippi Phosphates Corp. assets.
Bids are due in from interested parties by 5:00 p.m. (CST) March 17. Qualified bidders will be notified of the highest or best qualified bid by midday March 19. If there is more than one qualified bidder, then the assets, Miss Phos can proceed to an auction March 24. A hearing to approve a final sale is slated for April 17.
Growmark gives update on fire – Alert
Growmark has confirmed that on Feb. 22, 2015 at approximately 10:00 p.m. EST a structure at the Growmark fertilizer facility in East Liverpool, Ohio caught fire. It said local responders were able to control and extinguish the fire safely; no injuries were reported. The main office and bulk fertilizer storage buildings were unaffected by the fire and the majority of the facility remains open and operational.
Growmark said local and state fire marshals have opened an investigation in an attempt to determine the cause of the fire. “Growmark is committed to facility safety and security for our employees and the communities in which we operate,” said Brian Hundman, Plant Food Operations Manager. “First responders are critical to incidents like this, and we appreciate the efforts of the local teams who were quickly on the scene. We will work closely with authorities on the investigation, and provide any information or support they request.”
Labor dispute ends at West Coast ports – Alert
The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced on Feb. 20 that they have reached tentative agreement on a new five-year contract covering workers at all 29 West Coast ports. Details of the agreement were not released, and it remains subject to ratification by both parties.
“After more than nine months of negotiations, we are pleased to have reached an agreement that is good for workers and for the industry,” said PMA President James McKenna and ILWU President Bob McEllrath in a joint statement. “We are also pleased that our ports can now resume full operations.”
PMA, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, has enforced partial lockouts against ILWU members that effectively suspended vessel loading and unloading operations at West Coast ports for six days in mid-February. PMA said the lockouts were a response to months of union-coordinated work slowdowns at the ports.
The deal was reached with assistance from U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Deputy Director Scot Beckenbaugh. The two sides had been at an impasse over arbitration terms, which determines how to adjudicate disputes that occur day to day at the ports.
Although full operations are now resuming, industry sources say it will take months to clear the logistics bottleneck that has delayed container cargo traffic through the port system.
Israel weighs ICL intervention – Alert
Israel’s Finance Ministry is considering intervention in Israel Chemicals Ltd. The Ministry is examining the possibility of exercising the state’s rights through its ‘golden share’ in the company. The ‘golden share’ was part of the privatization process of the once state owned company back in the 1990s and allows the government to intervene to defend the state’s vital interests.
The Ministry asked for details from ICL CEO and President Stefan Borgas about plans to lay off 140 workers at Dead Sea Bromine Compounds and the possibility of shutting down production facilities in Israel.
The letter comes as ICL workers at Dead Sea Compounds and Dead Sea Works are continuing their strike and protests have taken place on Sunday and Monday in the southern Israeli towns of Dimona and Arad. The towns, both of which are home to hundreds of ICL workers, were shut off and strike bound. The Histadrut Labor Federation has ordered towns in southern Israel to shut down all services on an appointed day as part of the protest against developments at ICL.
Meanwhile, ICL said the strike has gone from a legitimate labor dispute to a political strike coming on the eve of the country’s general election scheduled for March 17.
Cronus inks deal with Tecnimont – Alert
Cronus Fertilizers, Chicago, said Feb. 23 that it has executed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with Tecnimont – Illinois, a subsidiary of Tecnimont SpA, for the Cronus Fertilizers plant in Tuscola, Ill. The lump sum turnkey (LSTK) EPC contract is valued at approximately $1.5 billion and is pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Cronus and Tecnimont SpA (Italy) in November 2014.
Tecnimont SpA is the main subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont SpA.
Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2015 following financial closing and will be completed in approximately three years.
Cronus Fertilizers will have the capacity to produce 2,200 mt/d of ammonia using KBR’s Technology and 3,850 mt/d of granular urea using technology developed by Stamicarbon, Maire Tecnimont Group’s licensing and IP center. The Cronus plant will also produce diesel exhaust fluid.
Cronus Fertilizers is a project of Cronus Chemicals LLC.
“We are delighted to have reached this important milestone; we look forward to working with Maire Tecnimont to create a state-of-the-art facility that will provide US farmers with locally produced nitrogen fertilizers,” said Erzin Atac, CEO of Cronus Chemicals.
“We are very pleased to have successfully completed this further achievement with our partner Cronus following the signature of the MOU in November 2014,” said Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont CEO. “The collaboration with them is perfectly in line with the challenging path we expected to follow.”
Yara, BASF proceed with NH3 plant – Alert
Yara International and BASF Group have agreed to build a world-scale ammonia plant at BASF’s site in Freeport, Texas. The plant will use hydrogen as raw material, reducing capital expenditures (capex), maintenance and carbon dioxide emissions significantly.
The ammonia plant will be owned 68 percent by Yara and 32 percent by BASF and located on BASF’s site in Freeport. The plant will have a capacity of about 750,000 mt/y. Each party will off-take ammonia from the plant in accordance with its equity share. Total capital investment for the plant is estimated at $600 million. Yara will in addition build an ammonia tank at the BASF terminal bringing Yara’s total investment to $490 million. BASF will in addition upgrade its current terminal and pipeline assets.
The hydrogen technology reduces capex and maintenance significantly compared to a traditional natural gas based ammonia plant. The technology also allows for lower carbon dioxide emissions. A long-term supply agreement for nitrogen and hydrogen has been signed with Praxair Inc., the largest industrial gases company in North America, linking the feedstock variable cost to the advantageous natural gas prices available at the U.S. Gulf Coast.
KBR, Inc., Houston, Texas, has been awarded a fixed price turnkey contract for the engineering, procurement and construction. The plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Yara will manage construction of the plant while BASF will operate the plant and the export terminal.
Potash workers strike – Alert
Workers at Israel Chemicals Ltd.’s Dead Sea Works subsidiary have gone on strike in solidarity with workers at Dead Sea Bromine Compounds. The strike began late Wednesday night after an ultimatum was issued by the Histadrut Labor Federation and the unions at ICL demanding that management retract the layoffs of the 140 workers at Dead Sea Bromine Compounds and the 130 at DSW.
ICL management is planning to appeal to the Beer Sheba Regional Labor Court to intervene and force the workers to man the chlorine and bromine facilities at the Dead Sea arguing that their shutdown poses a safety threat.
The strike at Dead Sea Bromine has gone into its third week.
The DSW plant at Sdom has been shut down in an open ended strike. The unions have called on the government to intervene in the crisis and force Israel Corp, the majority owner of ICL to rescind the cost cutting plan. DSW union leader Armand Lankry charged that management was dragging its feet and that despite the dialogue no real plan has been presented. He said he would suspend the strike if negotiations between the parties resume on a concrete plan.
ICL management is taking a hard line and has said it would not give in to DSW demands and rejected the union condition of making negotiations contingent on acceptance of the workers’ demands in advance.
Rentech eyes strategic alternatives – Alert
Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP said Feb. 17 that its board of directors has initiated a process to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives for the partnership, which may include a sale of the partnership, a merger with another party, a sale of some or all of the assets of the partnership, or another strategic transaction.
Rentech Nitrogen has retained Morgan Stanley as its financial advisor to assist with the strategic review process. The partnership stated that there can be no assurance that this strategic review process will result in a transaction. Rentech Nitrogen has not set a timetable for completion of the review process, and it does not intend to comment further regarding the review process unless a specific transaction is approved by its board the review process is concluded, or it is otherwise determined that further disclosure is appropriate or required by law.
Labor federation okays DSW strike – Alert
Israel’s powerful Histadrut Labor Federation has given the go ahead for Dead Sea Works workers to go on strike. The move was decided late Monday by Histadrut Chairman Avi Nissenkorn and was in response to the strike at Dead Sea Bromine Compounds. Histadrut said that the strike at DSW would be open ended. The strike at Dead Sea Compounds is now in its third week and is a protest against plans to fire 140 of its workers.
Workers at DSW are also facing possible layoffs as management has said it wants to reduce manpower at the company by 135. A Beer Sheba Labor Court ordered the two sides back to the negotiating table and to continue talks.