Canada’s CSL Group has secured a long-term contract to supply a transshipment vessel for a salt and sulphate of potash export facility in western Australia.
The 21-year contract, worth AUD 598m ($399m), has been secured from ASX-listed BCI Minerals Ltd, which is developing the Mardie Salt and Potash Project in Cape Preston.
CSL Group will initially time charter an existing transshipment vessel to transport salt and potash 12 to 15 nautical miles (28 km) from BCI Minerals’ jetty loadout facility, to load ships of up to capesize while a new transshipment vessel is built.
Upon completion of the new transshipment vessel, BCI Minerals will enter into a 20-year transshipment services agreement with CSL with two five-year extension options.
The new Australian-flagged transshipment vessel will handle up to 5.35m tonnes of salt and 140,000 tonnes of sulphate of potash per annum.
“Transshipment operations at the Mardie Project provide a cost-effective alternative to a deepwater port,” BCI Minerals said.
“Transshipping eliminates the need for towage and pilots and is expected to perform well in Mardie’s weather conditions.”
BCI Minerals said this arrangement will offer the Mardie Project a “significant strategic advantage” over Pilbara competitors, which cannot load vessels of this size.
CSL said the design of the new ship will “provide a pathway” to achieving its decarbonisation targets.
“Its diesel-electric propulsion system is engineered for future conversion to clean fuels or electrification,” said CSL president and chief executive Louis Martel.
The 16,000-dwt vessel will feature double-ended propulsion for high manoeuvrability and a shallow draught to maximise cargo lift within tide and channel constraints.
Construction of the new vessel is due to begin in 2026 at an unspecified shipbuilder, with delivery scheduled for the middle of 2027, CSL said.
BCI Minerals describes the Mardie Salt and Potash Project as a “sustainable opportunity” to develop a large-scale, multi-generational solar evaporation operation on the Pilbara coast of Western Australia.
The Pilbara coast is said to be one of the world’s premier regions for solar salt production, with five existing solar evaporation salt projects operating in this region for up to 50 years.
Mardie is the first major salt project developed in Australia in two decades and is said to be the only Australian operation to produce commercially saleable salt and sulphate of potash.
