September 26, 2019
WESTPORT, Conn., September 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — In response to the International Maritime Organization’s worldwide mandate reducing the amount of allowable sulfur in vessel fuels effective January 1, 2020 (“IMO 2020”), American Natural Soda Ash Corp. (“ANSAC”) today announced that, effective immediately, ANSAC will begin adding a vessel fuel surcharge to all of its soda ash vessel shipments in order to ensure compliance with IMO 2020.
Christopher B. Douville, ANSAC’s President, stated that “even though the implementation of IMO 2020 is only four months away, the highly speculative premium on forward pricing for 0.5% low sulfur fuel versus today’s 3.5%, as well as uncertainty as to the actions that shipowners will take both before and after January 1, have significantly limited the plausible fuel hedging options available in calendar year 2020. Therefore, to ensure shipment reliability, ANSAC has no choice but to adopt this fuel surcharge program.”
Under the terms of the program, details of which will be communicated separately to ANSAC’s customers and distributors, ANSAC will add a vessel fuel surcharge to all transactions that include vessel freight if the monthly average price for 0.5% low sulfur fuel in Singapore, as reported by Platts Marine Fuel Bunker 0.5% (Ticker: MFSPD03), exceeds a certain U.S. dollar threshold per metric ton.
About ANSAC
Established in 1984, ANSAC operates as the sales, marketing and logistics arm for leading producers of natural soda ash in the United States. In 2019, ANSAC will export approximately 4.4 million metric tons of high quality, environmentally friendlier natural soda ash, making ANSAC the largest soda ash exporter in the world. This provides ANSAC’s customers with the ability to reliably produce superior products in end use industries such as glass, detergent, chemicals, water treatment and lithium batteries.
For more information on ANSAC, visit https://www.ansac.com/
CONTACT: Dowling & Associates, (914) 714-0585