I.Coast mining firm to receive fertiliser cargo: Abidjan port
by AFP Staff Writers
Abidjan (AFP) Jan 7, 2025

Abidjan port officials said Tuesday that more than a third of a 20,000-tonne shipment of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, an ingredient in explosives, was due for delivery to an Ivorian mining firm.

Citing precautions, authorities had Monday insisted the Barbados-flagged Zimrida mooring the controversial cargo in the outer harbour posed no danger, despite campaigners expressing concern about a shipment refused entry to other ports.

The vessel was allowed to dock Monday after authorities determined it was not suffering from any damage and met all safety conditions "in line with international maritime rules" after a meeting with several ministries, the ship owner and that of the cargo.

Port Director General Hien Yacouba Sie told a news conference 8,000 tonnes of the cargo had been "ordered by a mining operator".

On August 22, the cargo became caught in a storm in the Barents Sea after leaving Russia's port of Kandalaksha on the Maltese-flagged Ruby dry bulk carrier.

Suffering cracking on its bow and refused entry by several ports over a period of weeks late last year, the Ruby eventually was anchored off the British coast and its cargo transferred to the Zimrida in the eastern British port of Yarmouth.

Stored ammonium nitrate caused a explosion at Beirut's port in August 2020 in an inferno which killed more than 220 people and devastated entire neighbourhoods of the Lebanese capital.

A material which used as an agricultural fertiliser, ammonium nitrate is also used in mining explosives, a booming sector in Ivory Coast where Sie said its import was increasing.

The Ivorian capital's port handled 46,000 tonnes of the chemical compound last year compared with 20,000 in 2023.

Concerns have mounted in Abidjan amid memories of the Probo Koala affair, which in August 2006 saw toxic residues on board the Panamanian-registered freighter arrive in the port for treatment after the Dutch port of Amsterdam had refused them.

An Ivorian sub-contractor dumped the waste on the city's garbage sites and in at least 18 other locations.

Ivorian judges say more than 500 cubic metres (18,000 cubic feet) of spent caustic soda, oil residues and water killed 17 people and poisoned thousands more.

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