Controversial ammonium nitrate shipment sparks protest in Ivory Coast

One of the cargoes that made the most headlines last year is still making news in the new year. 

Locals living near the Ivory Coast’s largest port, Abidjan, have voiced concern about a cargo of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate onboard the Barbados-flagged Zimrida just off the shoreline. 

The cargo was originally shipped onboard the Ruby, a controversial Russia-linked bulk carrier, in August last year. The pariah ship suffered damage when encountering bad weather off the far north of Norway, while carrying 20,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. After many countries refused to let the vessel dock, the UK came to its rescue in October, allowing it to call at Great Yarmouth on the country’s east coast. 

The cargo was transferred to the Zimrida, a handysize bulk carrier, in November. The Zimrida then left the UK in mid-December arriving at Abidjan anchorage on December 30 at which point many locals protested its arrival.

The ship “does not represent any danger for the port facilities, even less so for the population”, the port authority said in a statement yesterday, adding that it had taken necessary precautions.

“There is therefore no specific danger in the cargo intended for the Ivorian loader being unloaded in Abidjan port before the ship returns to the sea,” the port authority said. Some 8,000 tonnes of the shipment are due to be unloaded at the port this week after which the Zimrida is due to call in Angola and Tanzania.

The ship is carrying seven times the amount of ammonium nitrate that caused the 2020 port explosion in Beirut (pictured), which killed more than 200 people.