When building its TDI plant, BASF relied heavily on external companies and less on its own engineers. That seems to have become the group’s undoing. The plant was put into operation after several years of delays and has been struggling with technical problems ever since. In the meantime, the factory had to be shut down completely.
Also read: The cutback at BASF is not only due to energy costs
Even if the TDI factory was only rarely fully utilized: Capacities of basically 300,000 tons of TDI per year are now finally gone. In the future, BASF wants to supply European customers from America, China and Korea instead of from Ludwigshafen. The group intends to continue producing TDI there and improving plant utilization. The company said it could use a “proven logistics structure” for this purpose. But the experts also have their doubts: “The company lacks the logistical options to continue to supply its TDI customers in full,” says analyst Mayer. In addition, TDI loses quality when stored for a longer period of time. In view of this, many customers are likely to switch to the competition.