Heavy snow grounds north China chemical transport to a halt

06 January 2010 06:55  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Transportation of chemicals in north China regions including Beijing and Tianjin has almost come to a standstill and vehicular movement on 30 expressways has stopped due to the heaviest snowfall on record in the first week of 2010, industry sources said on Wednesday.

Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shandong provinces had also been affected, the sources said.

All expressways in Hebei province had been closed, bringing the number of expressways blocked due to snow in these regions to 30 since 1 January, they added.

Chemical producers in these regions can choose to take their deliveries instead to the southern parts of the country but this would be more expensive, said a methanol producer.

"We can choose to go south, meaning we have to spend more for transport,” the source said.

Zhengyuan Company, a fertilizer producer at Shijiazhuang in Hebei province had to suspend transportation of its products and feedstock, said a company source.

“We have no idea when transportation will return to normal. It depends on the weather situation. We heard the cargoes at Tianjin port cannot be delivered to local producers also because of the closure of expressways,” he said.

Central China provinces like Hubei were also experiencing heavy snowfall on Wednesday, the China Meteorological Bureau said.

Chemical producers in Wuhan city, the biggest city in Hubei province, were facing power shortage due to restrictions on consumption as power had to be diverted for civilian use, government sources said.

This is the first time in 10 years that China curbed the use of electricity in Wuhan, affecting 150 chemical producers, said a government official.

"They have to cut operations rates and face power outage for one day in a week,” the official said.

“Coal and electric sectors may see tight supply lasting for three months before the weather turns warmer in March,” he added.

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By: Dolly Wu
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