The refinery at Aughinish, Ireland produces around 1,8 million tonnes per year of alumina from millions of tonnes of imported bauxite. Also in this issue: Klaveness, Alcan, Hydro Sunndal, Wilson, Fjellstrand, Quintana and CAP-Bulk.
All text and photographs: Magne A. Røe, except where otherwise stated
Date: 05 February 2008
Aughinish Alumina is located on Ireland’s south west coast, close to the mouth of the Shannon river and to Shannon airport and the city of Limerick. The refinery was built between 1978 and 1983 and produces in excess of 1.8 million tonnes of alumina per year from some four million tonnes of imported bauxite. The alumina is exported to aluminium smelters throughout Europe.
It appears to be regular dirt, rock and gravel, but this material has a value beyond its looks. The largest, single known source of bauxite is to be found just below the topsoil on the west coast of Africa.
The Republic of Guinea has the largest bauxite deposits in the world. In the early 1970s, a consortium of aluminium producers developed a mine in a joint venture with the Guinean government. Under the joint venture agreement, the Guinean government was entitled to nominate a company to transport 50 per cent of the bauxite exported from this mine through Port Kamsar, provided the freight rates were competitive.
“Alcan is a multinational, market driven company and a global leader in aluminium and packaging. With world-class operations in primary aluminium, fabricated aluminium as well as flexible and specialty packaging, aerospace applications, bauxite mining and alumina processing, today’s Alcan is well positioned to meet and exceed its customers’ needs for innovative solutions and service. Alcan employs almost 70,000 people and has operating facilities in 55 countries and regions.” This is how the company presents itself on the Internet.
We are on the east coast of Canada, just north of the St Lawrence seaway at the scenic Saguenay Fjord. At the mouth of the Saguenay river, lies Port Alfred, where the Alcan facility handles some 5.5 million tonnes of bauxite and alumina per year. It also handles some pet coke for the aluminium works nearby, feeding no less than 87,700 full rail cars per year.
Surrounded by the beautiful backdrop of the Sunndal valley on the north western coast of Norway is one of Europe’s largest aluminium smelters, the Hydro Sunndal Plant at Sunndalsøra.
900,000 tonnes of aluminium are moved by Wilson’s bulk carriers every year for Hydro Aluminium, the largest producer of aluminium in Norway. Wilson has five vessels that are fully occupied working for Hydro.
According to a recent survey by National Geographic, the Fjords of Norway are the world’s premier tourist attraction. In one of these beautiful fjords, the Hardangerfjord, with snow-clad mountains as a backdrop in November, you will find the high speed and ferry manufacturer Fjellstrand. The factory was established in 1928 building small wooden boats for the local market, and are now supplying vessels to all parts of the world.
A Kamsar max is a Panamax bulk carrier which is 229 metres long – four metres longer than normal. This is the maximum allowable vessel length that can be accommodated in the bauxite port of Kamsar in Guinea – thus the name.
The Condition Assessment Programme (CAP) was introduced by DNV in 1989 as a voluntary service to shipowners and a supplement to classification. It was developed in cooperation with industry stakeholders and intended as an opportunity for operators of quality tonnage to document a high technical standard and thus enhance their competitiveness in the market.
This autumn turned out to be much better than expected by most people involved in dry bulk shipping. Despite absorbing a record amount of new tonnage, the freight market improved substantially for all sizes of bulk carriers.
