Fertilizer port logjam will take weeks to fix, Nutrien says

Disruptions at two North American ports have created a logjam in fertilizer exports that will take weeks to be resolved, according to top supplier Nutrien Ltd.

Crop nutrient shipments have been constrained by logistical challenges tied to a dockworkers strike at the Port of Vancouver in early July and an outage at a potash-handling facility at Portland’s port, Nutrien executives said Thursday in an earnings call. The issues forced the Canadian company to curtail production, adding to the reasons it slashed its annual earnings outlook.

There are “numerous loaded trains” sitting in Western Canada that “need to be worked through,” Chief Commercial Officer Mark Thompson said during the call with analysts. Conditions may improve by the end of August, assuming the absence of new obstructions. “There is a meaningful backlog.”