Active Minerals International, LLC (AMI) announced today a temporary $300 per container surcharge on all exported product effective February 1, 2021. As a critical move to protect our customers’ supply chains, flexible solutions are being implemented that allow containers to meet shorter window times at port and react faster to challenging demands of daily vessel changes. This temporary surcharge represents only a fraction of the additional expenditures Active Minerals is making in its efforts to ensure customer delivery requirements are met.

The current unprecedented surge in demand for products moving from Asia to the rest of the world has created a fluid set of constraints that is difficult to manage for many exporters. The supply chain – including steamship lines and ports - are now dealing with insufficient vessel space and severe congestion. At the same time, many steamship lines are using almost half the available vessel space to send empty containers back to Asia to meet surge demand.

AMI has a history of reliable supply during global economic supply disruptions and catastrophic weather events both here and abroad. Drawing on that experience, the company has implemented trusted protocols for container, production, and additional resource management to meet the fluid requirements of the situation. AMI is committed to supplying and supporting valued customers during this challenging time. Once the current congestion is alleviated, the surcharge will be lifted. AMI will provide continual updates as we work with logistics providers to minimize the service and cost impact to our customer base. Affected customers will be contacted individually with details of surcharge implementation.

The months ahead will be an enormous challenge for exporters. AMI remains well positioned to continue to be a consistent and reliable supplier of air-float kaolin and gellant attapulgite products.