Hydro confirms 4000 tonnes of Russian aluminium to arrive at Karmøy facility

The Bergen-based shipping company Silver Sea owned cargo fleet Silver Dania, which sails under the Norwegian flag, is carrying 4000 tonnes of Russian made aluminium from St. Petersburg to arrive at Karmoy, Norway, as confirmed by Kristin Karlstad, the Head of Communication & Public Affairs at Hydro Aluminium Metal.

It has been further stated that the bulk aluminium stock coming from Russia were in Hydro's possession since early February 2022.

“The current delivery is part of an existing, contract, entered into with a trading house before the war in Ukraine broke out, as several Russian companies and individuals were subject to severe sanctions”, Karlstad added.

However, she did not specify the name of the trading house nor did she spell the name of the metal producer from where the metal was procured.

Hydro runs an aluminium smelter at Karmøy also have two casthouses, where one delivers extrusion ingot for profile production and the other produces wire rod for high voltage cables. The facility at Karmøy is known for its technology pilot, the most climate- and energy-efficient technology for aluminium production in the world. Furthermore, Hydro have a research and development facility located at Karmøy.

However, the marine traffic manifests that "Silver Dania" a few hours back was in the Baltic Sea along the Swedish coast, on its way to Norway.

“This is a one-year contract, which will run for the entire 2022. We would not enter into any new contracts with Russian entities, and are looking at the possibility of finding alternative solutions for existing obligations” Karlstad said.

The Communication Head also stressed that she is speaking on behalf of Hydro in Norway. She specified that the current contract that allows 4,000 tonnes of Russian aluminium will arrive in Karmøy this weekend, although the purchase deal is not directly with a Russian counterpart, but indirectly.

“Normally, two to three such loads of metal come to Hydro in Norway a month, but it is uncertain how this will be in the future”, Karlstad added.

Hydro has already announced that it will not enter into any new contracts with Russian counterparties in the future.

Karlstad said, “We will not enter into contracts with Russian counterparties, either directly or indirectly. We are now working on finding alternative sources. There are ongoing discussions with suppliers from day to day.”

“None of Hydro's partners in Norway are currently affected by sanctions as a result of the war in Ukraine.”

However, as per sources, who are in touch with this deal has come up to say that the supplier is Glencore. The Anglo-Swiss multinational commodity trading company is one of the biggest traders of aluminium produced by Rusal and it also holds a 10.55% stake in En+ Group.