Transport relief in AdBlue crisis

A TRANSPORT crisis that would affect Tablelands fresh produce has been averted with the federal government stepping in after China banned exports of urea – a key ingredient in the mandatory truck fuel additive AdBlue.

Paul Morris, of Tullybased Blenners Transport, which has 90 B doubles, 20 road trains and 200 prime movers and is responsible for getting produce such as bananas, avocadoes and mangoes to markets nationwide, said the situation was critical.

“We looked into it straight away, it would have a major impact, there’d be no freight moving,” Mr Morris said. “Our supplier can keep us going until February, so there was a lot of relief there.”

AdBlue, mandated in 2011, is an additive to diesel that helps control nitrogen oxide pollutants, used in trucks, big passenger buses, mining equipment and agricultural vehicles.

The federal government set up an AdBlue task force to find an alternative before trucks came to a standstill, and struck a deal last week with fertiliser manufacturer Incitec Pivot to ensure local production of refined urea for AdBlue.

Incitec Pivot will rapidly design, trial and, on completion of successful tests, scale-up manufacturing of significant quantities of technical grade granular urea, which is a critical component of AdBlue.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan said Australia would receive 5000 tonnes of refined urea from Indonesia in January – enough to make an additional month’s worth of AdBlue.

“By working closely with our partners, we have been able to secure this critical supply for Australia,” Mr Tehan said.

Industry Minister Angus Taylor said the ramping up of production by Incitec Pivot wouldn’t impacting agricultural fertiliser supply or disrupt local distribution chains for AdBlue.