esco production at full capacity

esco – european salt company, the salt producer belonging to K+S Group, is making use of all available possibilities to ensure that customers are provided with de-icing salt. At the company's three rock salt plants, three shifts are being worked round-the-clock since mid-December and a maximum daily output of more than 20,000 tonnes of de-icing salt produced. In addition, since mid-January up to 10,000 tonnes of de-icing salt have been produced at some potash plants on a daily level.

The winter, which has continued without a break since the middle of December in the whole of Northern and Central Europe, has resulted in an exceptional situation with regard to the demand for de-icing salt. In the past eight weeks alone, more than double the amount for an entire average winter has already been supplied. In the shortest possible time, the extremely high consumption amounts have exhausted extensive stocks totalling several 100,000 tonnes, which esco and its distribution company Deutscher Straßen-Dienst (DSD) had stored up for the winter months. Deliveries must therefore currently be covered from the daily production. A short-term and complete service of all orders is not at present possible, because of the exceptional demand.

The DSD has already significantly exceeded the contractual amounts agreed with individual federal states for supplying motorways and major roads in almost all cases. In order to particularly keep national roads passable for long-distance traffic and thus ensure that basic provisions are maintained, de-icing salt deliveries are being made in close agreement with the federal state authorities. To ensure nationwide provision as far as possible, allocation by the relevant federal state authorities has proven to be the most efficient method.

esco will continue making every endeavour to provide its customers with de-icing salt as needed for the rest of the winter, and is concerned to limit delays in deliveries and bottlenecks to an inevitable minimum.