CBH makes first move into liquid fertiliser with historic 23,000t shipment from Louisiana

CBH Group is a step closer to being a major fertiliser supplier in WA after importing its first liquid shipment at Kwinana Grain Terminal — with the achievement a milestone in more ways than one. The farmer co-operative put its new 1.5km pipeline from the ocean to storage to test when it accepted the shipment on Good Friday. The Fairchem Blue Shark made a 46-day journey from Donaldsonville in Louisiana, with 23,800t of liquid urea ammonium nitrate and farmers were able to buy the outloaded product from the adjacent Kwinana Fertiliser Facility the next day. It is the first time in CBH’s 90-year history it has imported liquid fertiliser, after entering the granular market in 2015. It was also the first time a non-grain vessel had berthed at the terminal since it was built by CBH in 1974. CBH Fertiliser head David Pritchard the April 7 vessel was the first of two expected to unload at the Kwinana Grain Terminal this year, providing an additional 50,000 tonnes of liquid fertiliser to WA grain growers. He said the achievement highlighted the strength and scale of the co-operative’s network, while highlighting that CBH Group’s liquid fertiliser foray would return value to growers. “Not only are we leveraging our existing network, we are also chartering the vessels ourselves, leveraging our people and relationships,” Mr Pritchard said. “All of this results in efficiencies and helps drive the cost of fertiliser products down for WA growers.” The UAN was transferred by a purpose-built, 1.5km pipeline into two tanks at the Kwinana Fertiliser Facility, which opened last month. The $59 million facility was opened on March 17. It took Kerman contracting 14 months to build and includes a 55,000 tonne-capacity granular fertiliser shed and two towering tanks to store 32,000 tonnes of liquid fertiliser next to the Kwinana Grain Terminal. The project — CBH’s biggest construction project since the Kwinana Grain Terminal more than 40 years ago — is hoped to supercharge its foothold in WA’s highly competitive fertiliser market and allow it to sell and store liquid fertiliser for the first time. CBH has a goal of holding 15 per cent market share in WA’s highly competitive marketplace by 2033. Mr Pritchard said entering the UAN market would encourage “competitive tension” in the local market. He said it would also “improve consistency of supply for growers when they need it most”. Original plans were for an 80,000-tonne granular storage shed and three tanks to store 48,000 tonnes of UAN, but the project was scaled back a few months after it was announced. It is understood CBH fertiliser still hopes to build more storage at the site in the future, with plans to utilise existing space next to the new storage facility to build more sheds or tanks.