A shipment of
phosphate rock from the Western Sahara desert in Africa was sailing for Canada
until it was impounded by court order in Panama.
Agrium Inc.
intended to use the phosphate rock to make fertilizer at its plant at Redwater,
Alberta.
It’s the second
boatload from Western Sahara that has been impounded by court order arising out
of a dispute about who owns the resource.
Both Morocco
and Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic or SADR lay claim to the region and its
resources.
Agrium’s director
of investor relations, Todd Coakwell, said the Calgary-based company is working
with the ship owner, Danish Ultrabulk A/S, to get the shipment moving again.
He says the
delay is not expected to affect production because Agrium has enough inventory
to continue to process it for inclusion in several agricultural fertilizers.
Earlier, a ship
bound for New Zealand was detained in South Africa.
SADR claims the
shipments have been illegally mined by an occupying government.
Coakwell says
an "independent assessment" done for Agrium in 2016 concluded
continued purchases would not contribute to negative human rights outcomes in
the Western Sahara.
Coakwell could
not confirm a report that the ship contains 55,000 tonnes of phosphate rock
because that would violate confidentiality terms of its supply contract.
