Production - Le Havre

The site has two production units, an ammonia plant and a urea plant. Yara owns 47.85 percent of the urea plant through a joint venture with GPN, a subsidiary of the Total group. Yara operates the site, and the urea is produced on a tolling basis for the joint venture owners.

Yara is able to ship ammonia by sea, rail or road to the company’s fertilizer and industrial customers.

Since 1975, the initial feedstock - naphta or butane - has been gradually replaced by natural gas. The plant is one of the major consumers of natural gas in France.

HESQ Certification : The plant has been certified ISO 9002 since 1994 for all its operations, including the distribution and sale of products for technical use. The objective for 2009 is to obtain a global certificate for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

Safety: The plant and its contractors are engaged in an ongoing safety process based on behavior (BST ®).

Inspection: The plant’s inspection department has been certified by French authorities (DRIRE) since 1999 for pressure and storage vessels.

Key dates

• 1969 Start of ammonia production 
• 1970 Start of urea production
• 1986 Acquisition by Norsk Hydro
• 1999 Major revamp of ammonia

Production volumes:

Ammonia     400,000 tons
Urea             200,000 tons (Represents Yara's 47,85 % joint venture share of production)  
 
Health, Safety and Environment fact sheet 2010 (PDF, 538 KB)
Health, Safety and Environment fact sheet 2009 (PDF, 272 KB)
Health, Safety and Environment fact sheet 2008 (PDF, 366 KB)