Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund Announces Declaration of Force Majeure at North Vancouver Chlor-Alkali Plant
Lost production for estimated two weeks will impact Chemtrade Electrochem's EBITDA
TORONTO, Nov. 20, 2017 /CNW/ - Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund (TSX: CHE.UN) announced today that a recurrence of an operating issue has resulted in an unplanned interruption of production at its North Vancouver chlor-alkali plant. The plant is an asset of Chemtrade Electrochem, formerly Canexus Corporation ("Canexus"). The issue was discovered on November 12, 2017 and Chemtrade expects the plant to be offline for approximately two weeks.
Prior to this issue, during 2017, the plant had been setting production records. This unscheduled shutdown is the result of an issue known at the time the plant was acquired as part of the purchase of Canexus and is scheduled to be permanently fixed in April, 2018 during a planned turn around. Once the plant is operational after the current shutdown, Chemtrade expects the plant to resume its pre-incident production run rates until the planned April shutdown.
The plant had experienced a similar problem in November 2016 resulting in an unscheduled shutdown to temporarily fix the issue. Once Chemtrade assumed ownership of this plant, it determined the permanent fix required and ordered the necessary long lead time materials. These materials are scheduled to arrive in December and then must be prepared for installation in April 2018.
As a result of the outage, Chemtrade has declared force majeure for the supply of caustic soda, chlorine and hydrochloric acid. Chemtrade estimates the EBITDA impact of this incident will range between $7 million and $8 million, the majority of which will be realized in Q4 2017.
About Chemtrade
Chemtrade operates a diversified business providing industrial chemicals and services to customers in North America and around the world. Chemtrade is one of North America's largest suppliers of sulphuric acid, spent acid processing services, inorganic coagulants for water treatment, sodium chlorate, sodium nitrite, sodium hydrosulphite and phosphorus pentasulphide. Chemtrade is a leading regional supplier of sulphur, chlor-alkali products, liquid sulphur dioxide, potassium chloride, and zinc oxide. Additionally, Chemtrade provides industrial services such as processing by-products and waste streams.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the Securities Act (Ontario). Forward-looking statements can be generally identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "expected", "intend", "may", "will", "project", "plan", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. Specifically, forward-looking statements in this news release include statements respecting certain future expectations about: the duration of time the North Vancouver facility will be shut down; the timing of receipt of equipment and materials to fix plant issues and the ability to prepare them for April; the ability of the North Vancouver facility to resume normal operations following the current shutdown; the ability of the North Vancouver facility to run at pre-incident production run rates until April 2018; and the quantum of the impact on EBITDA. Forward-looking statements in this news release describe the expectations of the Fund and its subsidiaries as of the date hereof. These statements are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including without limitation the risks and uncertainties detailed under the "RISK FACTORS" section of the Fund's latest Annual Information Form and the "RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES" section of the Fund's most recent Management's Discussion & Analysis.
Although the Fund believes the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, and they should not be unduly relied upon. With respect to the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, the Fund has made assumptions regarding: the ability of the Fund to obtain products, raw materials, equipment, transportation, services and supplies in a timely manner to carry out its activities and at prices consistent with current levels or in line with the Fund's expectations with respect to the North Vancouver facility; and the ability to retain customers affected by force majeure on terms consistent with those currently experienced.
Except as required by law, the Fund does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Further information can be found in the disclosure documents filed by Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund with the securities regulatory authorities, available at www.sedar.com.
SOURCE Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund
For further information: Mark Davis, President and CEO, Tel: (416) 496-4176; Rohit Bhardwaj, Vice-President, Finance and CFO, Tel: (416) 496-4177
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