ANSAC Declares Force Majeure, effective immediately
February 8, 2008
In response to the severe weather – heavy snow, wind and mudslides in the West & Northwestern parts of the United States, the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) has declared Force Majeure on all ANSAC shipments to Portland, OR effective immediately, February 8, 2008. While all efforts continue to be made to route rail cars from Wyoming to ANSAC’s ocean terminals in Portland, OR service disruptions will be experienced.
As a result, ANSAC has no choice but to declare force majeure on the supply of soda ash to customers served from Portland, OR, USA.
We are hopeful that weather conditions will improve during the next week, and we will continue to keep all customers apprised of the situation. We will post a notification when the UPRR terminates the force majeure, and will in turn end the force majeure on soda ash supply to our customers. In the interim, we appreciate your patience and cooperation as we continue our best efforts to mitigate any shipment disruptions.
*UPDATE*
April 1, 2008
The Union Pacific Railroad has lifted its force majeure declaration to ANSAC, and we continue to make progress towards a normal shipping schedule. However, due to the backlog of orders which accumulated and the disposition of railcars, we must maintain our force majeure status for customers serviced from our Portland Terminal for the time being. Critically low inventories have added to our challenge of resuming normal shipping patterns. We continue to work very hard to improve our supply of product as quickly as possible, and as always we appreciate your understanding and patience.