Seen here loading potash at Neptune Terminal Berth 3 in North Vancouver is the recently built Supramax bulk carrier Ultra Innovation.

Delivered in 2016 by
Owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha
Chartered by Ultrabulk A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
LOA 199.98m
Beam 32.2m
GRT
DWT 61.188 MT

Ultra Innovation hit the headlines last month when, following issuance of a court order, she was detained in the Panama Canal when carrying a Moroccan phosphate shipment for Canada’s Agrium from the disputed territory of Western Sahara after the Polisario independence movement claimed the cargo had been transported illegally. She is second bulk carrier to suffer a delay in the Panama Canal related to this geo-political dispute The status of Western Sahara has been in dispute since 1975 when Morocco laid claim to the territory. The two sides have been locked in armed struggle and a diplomatic stand-off ever since and repeated U.N. negotiations have failed to reach a deal.

Ultrabulk A/S is wholly owned by Ultranav, which is the ship owning and operating arm of the Ultramar Group of Chile – a well known name that anyone who has traded to that part of the world will recognize instantly. The original company which was founded in by Captain Albert von Appen in 1952 was entirely focused on ship agency and service companies but lift off soon came after Captain von Appen’s sons Sven and Wolf joined the company. Expansion into the world of tugs, terminals and off-shore supply vessels, not only in Chile but throughout Latin America, ensued. Today the company is further diversified into mining, energy, oil and gas under the leadership of Mr. Dag von Appen and  Mr. Richard von Appen. So far as shipping is concerned, the company’s scope extends to containers, gas, checmicals and dry bulk cargo in the form of Ultrabulk.

In 2010, the company acquired a majority shareholding in Eitzen Bulk A/S, a holding which it increased in 2010 to become sole owner. Today, the company operates a fleet of modern tonnage in the Panamax, Supramax and Handy-size sectors serviced by company headquarters in Copenhagen and branch offices in offices in Hamburg, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. A new office has been opened this year in Cape Town. The company motto is “A Partner you can trust”.

Port of Vancouver potash export shipments were 8 million tonnes in 2016, an 8% decline on 2015 due to tough market conditions.