Canpotex

Canpotex Limited

Type	Private
Industry	Exporting and marketing
Founded	1970 (1970)
Headquarters	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Bill Doyle Chairman
Products	Potash
Owner	Agrium, The Mosaic Company, and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
Number of employees	88 (2009)
Website	www.canpotex.com
Footnotes / references [1]

Canpotex, short for Canadian Potash Exporters (reporting mark PTEX), is a Canadian potash exporting and marketing firm, incorporated in 1970 and operating since 1972.^[1] Based in Saskatchewan, Canpotex manages the entire Saskatchewan potash exporting industry (excluding Canadian and US sales), including transportation and delivery.^[2] It has been criticized as a "cartel".^[3]

Canpotex is the world's largest exporter of potash, selling over nine million tonnes of potash in 2008,^[1] representing about one-third of global capacity.^[4][5] The global potash market was considered a duopoly between Canpotex and Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), a similar consortium which exported Belarusian (Belaruskali) and Russian potash (Uralkali); until the BPC marketing venture failed in 2013, the two collectively controlled 70% of global potash exports.^[6]

Member producers

Canpotex is wholly owned by its three member producers:^[1][5]

• Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PotashCorp) — 51% of potash exported
• The Mosaic Company — 39%
• Agrium — 10%

In August 2010, Australian mining giant BHP Billiton announced intentions to acquire PotashCorp, though its bid was blocked by the Canadian government in November 2010 and subsequently withdrawn.^[5][7] BHP publicly intended to exit the Canpotex partnership as it prefers to market its minerals itself.^[8] As over half of Canpotex's sales volumes ware produced by PotashCorp, both Agrium and Mosaic issued concerns.^[5] The Saskatchewan government also issued concerns, citing that the breakup of Canpotex would likely result in lower tax revenues for the government.^[9]

Facilities

The majority of Canpotex potash is shipped to west coast terminals via CPR lines, in dedicated covered hopper railway cars

Canpotex potash railway car on display at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum.

Canpotex operates over 5,500 specialised covered hopper cars for inland transportation of potash from landlocked Saskatchewan to ports,^[10] and operates solely on Canadian Pacific Railway lines.^[11] In 2011, Canpotex started on the construction of a new $55 million rail car maintenance yard near the town of Lanigan, Saskatchewan used to perform maintenance and manage the inventory of railcars.^[12]

The majority of its potash is shipped overseas to Asian, Latin American, and Oceanic markets^[13] through Neptune Terminals, partly owned by Canpotex, in North Vancouver, British Columbia.^[14] Since 1997, Canpotex has additionally exported through Portland Terminals (owned by Canpotex and operated by Kinder Morgan) in Portland, Oregon.^[14] Canpotex additionally ships smaller quantities of potash through the St. Lawrence Seaway via Thunder Bay, Ontario, and has access to ports on the East Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico.^[15]

Ships

Canpotex has committed $900 million to the manufacture of 15 cargo vessels. The first of these vessels, the U-Sea Saskatchewan, built as a joint venture with Ultrabulk received its first load of 58,000 metric tons of potash in the Port of Vancouver in November 2010.^[16] The U-Sea Saskatchewan was built by Imabari Shipbuilding of Japan and is capable of carrying 60,000 metric tons.^[17] Other ships include the Ultra Colonsay.

References