Concept Best Available Technologies & Techniques: Bulk Fertilizer Handling

This document is intended to further the necessary discussion for port improvements for handling fertilizers in Baltic Sea ports. To that intention, CCB encourages industry development of best practices in an open innovation setting, with learning shared among peer organizations.

Dry bulk, packed and liquid fertilizer cargoes carried on vessels can enter the marine environment at different phases during storage and transport: loading and unloading, transshipment, and washing of cargo holds. Even with a conservative estimate of 0.05% loss of bulk cargo due to unloading operations and cleaning of ship holds, a potential loss from 33 million tons of fertilizer handled in the Baltic Sea in 2013 could be 16,700 tons per year. However, given contractually allowed losses of 0.5%, the volumes lost could be a magnitude greater, with significant effects on eutrophication.

The concept of a uniform collection of best technologies and techniques, or best practices, is relevant and necessary to consider for Baltic port authorities, terminal operators, shipping companies, and others involved in the fertilizer supply chain. This document is intended to highlight the diversity of technical solutions available and feed discussion among these peer industry organizations to further the process in an open innovation setting.