Short-time Working Ends at K+S

Improved water flow in the river Werra will allow German minerals producer K+S to lift short-time working at the plant in the town of Werra, the company has announced. Production will also resume at the Hattorf, Germany, site this week.

The short-time working plan implemented on Apr. 1 affected some 650 employees at the Hattorf and Wintershall and around 300 employees at Unterbreizbach and Merkers.

As it was also possible to empty the process wastewater basins, production water can now be discharged directly once again, so nothing prohibits operating potash production capacity at full run, K+S said. If conditions worsen, shorter hours may have to be “briefly reintroduced at any time.

Although the company is “happy that we’ve been able to end the unavoidable introduction of short-time working after just a few days,” plant manager Roland Keidel said receiving a wastewater injection permit of sufficient scope as soon as possible remains essential.

K+S has been in a protracted discourse with and among the German federal states over injection of saline wastewater into the soil to relieve the burden on the river.