CF Industries Holdings And J. R. Simplot Satisfy Ammonia Demand

A partnership between a global fertilizer and chemical company and an Idaho-based agribusiness firm will soon help to meet the growing international demand for anhydrous ammonia.

Starting in 2019, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will ship, store and distribute the product from the J. R. Simplot Company’s Rivergate Terminal in Portland, Oregon.

The ammonia will be supplied from CF’s Medicine Hat, Alberta, nitrogen complex, chosen for its low production costs.

The company plans to sell locally from the terminal, but the overall goal is to quench the demand from countries in the Pacific Rim. In 2017, the Pacific Rim imported over 4.1 million metric tonnes of anhydrous ammonia.

“We are delighted to partner with our customer, J. R. Simplot Company 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 Industries senior vice president of sales, market development and supply chain in a press release. “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.”

With two 25,000 short ton ammonia storage tanks, Simplot’s Rivergate Terminal is the largest deep water ammonia terminal on the U.S. West Coast.

“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 in a press release. “With the commissioning of the ammonia plant at our Rock Springs, Wyoming, 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.”