NORDEN discharges 49,000 tons of Chilean road salt

- and more is on the way

19 Jan 2011

This morning, NORDEN’s Handymax vessel NORD MARINER discharged the remainder of 49,000 tons of road salt – equivalent to approx. 1,630 truck loads - at the port of Kalundborg. Other NORDEN vessels loaded with an additional 0.5 million tons of road salt, are on their way to Northern Europe.

The early and long-lasting frost has increased the demand for road salt in Denmark and Northern Europe. To refill the stocks of salt before the next frost, European salt purchasing agents have stretched their search all the way to Chile and Western Australia to find salt readily available and plentiful. The increased European demand has caused some fluctuation in NORDEN’s salt shipments, and NORDEN vessels are carrying more than 0.5 million tons of road salt for delivery in Northern Europe in January and February.

Last week, the Handymax vessel NORD MARINER loaded with approx. 49,000 tons of salt from Chile, discharged approx. 2,700 tons at the port of Fredericia. Since Monday morning this week, the port of Kalundborg has been busy discharging the remaining 46,300 tons. The other vessels headed for Northern Europe are all expected to arrive in January and February.

In 2009, NORDEN’s salt shipments constituted approx. 10% of the Company’s total cargoes. The salt is used for de-icing roads in winter, chemical production and the production of caustic soda. The large salt shipments to Northern Europe these months are unusual compared to NORDEN’s regular salt shipments primarily going from Western Australia and Chile to USA, China, Taiwan and Japan.

NORDEN