The Tennessee Department of Transportation has denied U.S. Nitrogen LLC’s plans to run water and effluent lines over state right-of-way from its plant in Mosheim, Tenn., to the Nolichucky River. While state environmental authorities had granted the company a water permit for the pipeline, TDOT said that such pipelines are limited to only utilities and that U.S. Nitrogen is not a utility.

The news took both supporters and opponents by surprise. Despite the news, the decision came from a TDOT regional office in Knoxville, Tenn. Sources say TDOT officials in the state capitol of Nashville are supportive of the project and are likely to overrule the Knoxville office. Locals also maintain that other industries have been allowed to run pipelines on state right-of-way.

Agrium Inc. alerted customers on June 13 that repairs to its Carseland, Alberta, nitrogen facility have now been completed and the facility has resumed operations. As a result, Agrium said the force majeure that was declared on April 2 (GM April 7, p. 1) when the facility went down has been removed.

Agrium reported on April 2 that it had to shut down ammonia and urea operations at the Carseland plant due to the failure of the high pressure boiler feedwater supply pumps. It said at the time that it would not be able to fully perform its product supply obligations for urea, ammonia, and ESN for approximately 8 weeks. The supply contracts that were impacted by the declaration included more than 200 separate urea contracts, some 106 ESN contracts, and more than 200 ammonia contracts.

Agrium updated that forecast on May 9, saying it would continue to supply available ammonia and urea to customers on an allocated basis during the force majeure, but ESN – which is produced solely at Carseland – would not be available until production resumed at the facility.

Carseland production capacity is placed at 680,000 mt/y for urea, with ammonia production rated at 535,000 mt/y gross and 135,000 mt/y net.

PotashCorp of Saskatchewan Inc. on June 16 reported that it has rescinded previously announced layoff notices at the company’s Penobsquis, N.B., facility, impacting approximately 50 employees.

“Given ongoing tightness in the granular potash market, this temporary extension in operations will allow continued production from our Penobsquis mine (previously anticipated to cease by the second quarter of 2014) as we ramp up our Picadilly operation,” PotashCorp said. “Ramp-up activities at our Picadilly mine are continuing on schedule, with initial production expected during the fourth quarter of 2014.”

PotashCorp reported in December 2013 that it planned to cut a total of 130 positions in New Brunswick as part of a company-wide workforce reduction of approximately 1,045 employees due to sluggish demand and “challenging market conditions (GM Dec. 9, 2013). It said the changes were necessary to reduce costs, maintain operational flexibility, and optimize the company’s lowest cost operations.

In addition to the workforce reduction, PotashCorp said in December that it planned to cease production at its Penobsquis mine in 2014 in order to allow it to accelerate development activities at its low-cost Picadilly potash mine near Sussex, N.B.

Wichita, Kan. and Gainesville, Ga. — One worker was hospitalized in critical condition and two others were checked over onsite but declined treatment as a result of an ammonia release at meat processor Farmland Foods June 7. Some 110 workers evacuated the plant while Hazmat teams shut off the leak. In Gainesville, Ga., four employees were taken to the hospital as a result of a June 2 leak at a Koch Food processing plant; 10 others were evacuated.

The State Trading Corp. of India called a urea tender today. The tender will close June 18 with validity of offers to last until June 25. The STC tender call came earlier than many expected. Expectations are that STC will buy at least 1 million mt. One trader said STC may take even more if the price is right.

Shipment must be completed by July 31. Sources have said earlier that the opening of the Chinese export window July 1 would mean any Indian tender should allow as much time as possible in July for product loadings.

According to the documents posted on the STC website (http://www.tenders.gov.in/viewtenddoc.asp?tid=del664503&wno=1&td=TD), the tender will operate under a 2-Bid System. Companies participating in the tender must provide a sealed envelope with technical and commercial information. The second envelope is to include the actual price and quantity being offered.

Companies offering Iranian product will have to include the necessary marine insurance in its offer. Insurance for material from all other sources will be covered by STC.

Gleadell Agriculture Ltd, Lincolnshire, England, the United Kingdom’s third largest agricultural trading and distribution company, and CHS Europe Sarl, a division of CHS Inc., North America’s leading farmer-owned cooperative and a global energy, grains and foods company, today announced an agreement whereby CHS will provide global fertilizer sourcing to support Gleadell Agriculture’s supply chain.

The agreement will extend Gleadell’s access to imported product, mainly high quality granular urea, through CHS global supply and sourcing. "CHS has an excellent track record on sourcing product, especially within Egypt and the Middle East, which are recognized as major suppliers of quality granular urea," said Gleadell Sales Director Stuart Shand. "Other fertilizer offerings from Gleadell, including most importantly UK product GrowHow, will be offered as before."

CHS Europe Vice President and General Manager Roger Baker said the partnership is part of the farmer-owned cooperative’s focus on global fertilizer distribution expansion. "Gleadell and CHS share similar growth strategies and recognize the importance of providing customers with an assured, timely supply of crop nutrients vital to healthy, profitable crop production," said Baker.

Gleadell Managing Director David Sheppard said the CHS business model is built on long-term partnerships and shared success, very similar to Gleadell co-owner InVivo, whose capital is held by 223 cooperatives. "CHS fits exactly with Gleadell’s ambition to work only with successful, forward-thinking blue chip companies. We look forward to building this new partnership, which we believe will provide our professional farmer customers and UK cooperatives with improved continuity of product supply."

CHS Europe Head of Fertilizers EMEA Walter Singer said the supply agreement fits with the company’s long-term business aspirations to expand geographically. "This distribution agreement is an important step towards gaining company and brand awareness with cooperatives and farmers across Europe," said Singer.

Gleadell is an independent and a major trader of grain in the UK and a leading exporter of grain, oilseeds and pulses to markets in the European Union and a significant supplier to UK millers, maltsters, feed compounders and other grain markets. It is a growing force in the sourcing and delivery of imported and home-produced fertilizer and seed. Since 2001 Gleadell has been jointly owned by Toepfer International, a major trader of agricultural products around the world, and InVivo, the leading provider of agricultural goods and services in the EU.