CF Industries Holdings Inc., Deerfield, Ill., and Boise, Idaho-based J. R. Simplot Co. announced on Oct. 22 that they have entered into an agreement that allows CF to ship, store, and distribute anhydrous ammonia from Simplot’s Rivergate Terminal in Portland, Ore., starting in 2019.
Simplot’s Rivergate facility is the largest deep water ammonia terminal on the U.S. West Coast, and has two 25,000 st ammonia storage tanks. The terminal is located on the Willamette River in Portland, approximately 2.5 miles upstream from its confluence with the Columbia River.
CF said the arrangement will enable it to meet growing demand for anhydrous ammonia in Pacific Rim countries, a region that imported more than 4.1 million mt of ammonia in 2017. CF said it intends to supply ammonia to Rivergate from its Medicine Hat, Alta., nitrogen complex, which the company noted has some of the lowest production costs in its manufacturing network.
CF did not specify the total annual ammonia volumes it plans to distribute through Rivergate, but the company added that it also anticipates selling ammonia to “local customers” from the terminal.
“We are delighted to partner with our customer, J. R. Simplot Co. at Rivergate, to further expand CF’s best-in-class ammonia distribution capabilities and leverage our Medicine Hat complex’s low cost production and logistics advantages,” said Bert Frost, CF’s senior vice president of sales, market development, and supply chain. “Through this state-of-the-art, multi-mode point of sale, we will increase our ability to serve customers on the Pacific Rim, a region whose consumption is growing and imports account for over 25 percent of global seaborne ammonia trade.”
Simplot purchased the Rivergate Terminal in 2000. In addition to the ammonia tanks, Rivergate also has extensive urea storage capacity, with two warehouses rated at 30,000 st and 40,000 st, respectively. Rivergate has two rail and two truck loading stations from which Simplot ships urea to markets throughout Western North America.
Simplot also operates a new 600 st/d ammonia production facility at its Rock Springs, Wyo., phosphate fertilizer complex (GM Sept. 29, 2017), which the company said will enable it to produce its own ammonia for nitrogen fertilizer production rather than importing it. The Rock Springs plant also produces MAP, phosphoric acid, and fluorosilicic acid, and has 18,000 tons of ammonia storage and 80,000 tons of dry fertilizer storage capacity.
“We are excited about this opportunity to partner with CF Industries to leverage available capacity at our Rivergate terminal, a key asset in our supply chain,” said Doug Stone, president of Simplot’s AgriBusiness Group. “With the commissioning of the anhydrous ammonia plant at our Rock Springs facility, the opportunity to provide available storage and warehousing of ammonia became a mutually beneficial arrangement with one of our long time partners, CF Industries.”
CF’s Medicine Hat manufacturing facility will also be supply an additional 150,000 st/y of ammonia to the company’s distribution terminal in Garner, Iowa, according to an August announcement from CF (GM Aug. 10, p. 1). Total ammonia and urea production capacity at Medicine Hat is estimated at up to 1.5 million mt/y.