Tata Chemicals to shut fertiliser plant for 5 weeks

The company plant at Haldia in West Bengal, will be closed due to interruption in the supply of ammonia

Tata Chemicals on Monday said that the company's fertiliser plant at Haldia, West Bengal is likely to be closed for 5 weeks in February-March 2017 due to "interruption in the supply of ammonia".

The company had signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Sanjana Cryogenics Storage (SCSL), its ammonia terminal operator, for re-routing a portion of the ammonia pipeline that runs from Haldia Dock to ammonia storage tank.

The pipeline re-routing activity has been done at the directive of Kolkata Port Trust for facilitating the set up a Multi-Modal Terminal Hub at Haldia by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the company said.

"As per the current project status, the expected pipeline re-routing will be scheduled in the month of February-March, 2017 for about five weeks. Further updates in this regard will be provided when the actual shutdown of the Haldia plant for the above purpose is undertaken in February and March, 2017," the company said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.

Earlier, the fertiliser producer had announced that this pipeline re-routing activity would cause a shutdown of operations by about 5 weeks in September-October 2016 due to interruption of ammonia supply to its Haldia phosphatic fertiliser plant.