South Hills communities are still frustrated over salt supplies.
“It was horrible. Horrible. I was headed to work one morning and skid all the way through. No salt, that’s an issue,” Aron Peters told Channel 11.
Peters thought back to January when the Pittsburgh area was hit with a winter storm that brought a foot of snow. The worst part for him was driving in it, especially in neighborhoods dealing with a salt shortage.
“I’m coming from Philadelphia, so I know how the road is salted. One of the biggest things around here is the salting on the roads,” Peters said.
On Tuesday, there was some relief. Barges brought thousands of tons of salt from a company called Compass Minerals in Louisiana.
“A lot of communities are still playing catch-up. They placed orders over a month ago,” SHACOG Executive Director Patrick Conners told Channel 11.
SHACOG has a salt purchasing contract with Compass Minerals. Last month, we told you several communities like Scott Township, Castle Shannon and Dormont reported salt shortages because they weren’t getting their orders fast enough.
“I think there’s a general feeling that there was unpreparedness for Compass Minerals. This was the first year they worked in the Pittsburgh region and maybe they didn’t know what to expect for a western Pennsylvania winter, but that’s no excuse,” Conners said.
The frozen rivers also made it difficult for barges to get here. But with the recent warm-up, Conners is expecting more salt shipments.
“Those deliveries are starting to get caught up on. We are seeing a lot more barges come into the regions,” Conners added.
Channel 11 reached out to Compass Minerals with questions about the salt supply, and we were directed to their website, which had this statement:
“As winter weather continues across North America, Compass Minerals reaffirms its commitment to delivering essential deicing salt safely and reliably to its customers throughout Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.
Each winter season, road salt plays a critical yet often unseen role in supporting public safety and mobility during snow and ice events. For decades, Compass Minerals has supplied municipalities and transportation agencies with deicing salt, leveraging its extensive production network, including mines in Goderich, Ontario; Cote Blanche, Louisiana; and Winsford, Cheshire.
This season, with winter arriving earlier and bringing more severe conditions than in recent seasons, demand across the entire road salt supply chain is elevated. During this period of high demand, the company continues to work diligently to fulfill all current orders while prioritizing shipments for municipal customers. Compass Minerals remains focused on safely maximizing daily output from its mines and moving product as efficiently as possible to support optimal, full-season inventory availability across its network.
At the core of Compass Minerals’ North American supply network is its Goderich mine in Ontario, the largest underground salt mine in the world. Teams at the site operate 24/7 to supply road salt to customers across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway regions. Shipments are strategically managed to meet demand in both Canada and the northern U.S., moving via vessels that call on ports in both countries, as well as hundreds of truckloads each day delivering to customers throughout the served markets.
Ongoing winter conditions continue to create unique supply chain challenges, including narrower shipping windows as lake ice has the potential to limit vessel mobility. Despite these constraints, Compass Minerals’ operations and logistics teams seek to maximize available transportation capacity while maintaining high efficiency and safety standards across the network.
Salt produced in Goderich is also transported to the nearby Compass Minerals’ Goderich plant, where deicing salt products are packaged for retail distribution across North America.
With more than 1,800 employees and 12 production and packaging sites across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., Compass Minerals is proud of the role it plays in supporting winter safety. Even with this season’s weather-driven increase in demand, the company remains focused on meeting its contractual commitments and will continue prioritizing municipal needs while fulfilling active orders.
Compass Minerals remains fully committed to supporting its customers and helping protect the safety of citizens throughout the markets it serves.”
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