Europe's commercial vehicle manufacturers are gearing up to meet emissions standards not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world, as far afield as Australia, South Korea and the Middle East. In December 2005 Yara International ASA and Depotchem Ltd of Israel signed an exclusive distribution agreement for Air1® and the Air1 concept. The Air1 concept encompasses the AdBlue product itself together with associated equipment, and a guarantee of quality.

According to Haakon Indrøy, Yara's Key Account Director, Automotive Environment, "Depotchem is a leading distribution company, operating in a similar way to Brenntag in Europe. The Israeli company will represent and promote Yara's complete Air1 solution and has access to all equipment, technology and promotional material from Yara." Depotchem is part of the Chernovil group, a family-owned group of companies.

The Euro 4 emissions standard for heavy duty commercial vehicles has been adopted in Israel and comes into force there at the same time, i.e., October 2006.

No heavy-duty trucks - those weighing more than 16 tonnes without the cargo - are manufactured in Israel itself and hence the country relies on imports, the majority of which come from Europe. A total of 1,120 heavy-duty trucks were imported from Europe in 2004 with Volvo and DAF accounting for over half of these vehicles. MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Scania and Iveco also have a market presence in Israel. However, the Israeli truck market is much smaller than a European country of a comparable population, such as Denmark.

The Israeli truck industry is unique in that there are no long haul routes to speak of. "Israeli trucks do not travel into the neighbouring countries," explains Haim Feller, Vice President Sales for Depotchem Ltd. Nonetheless, as Israel has the same emissions standards as Europe, there is a market for AdBlue and this is now being exploited by the partnership between Yara and Depotchem Ltd.

As part of the agreement, urea will be taken from the liquid stream of the hot melt at Yara's urea plant in Sluiskil in the Netherlands and transported as a concentrated urea solution via dedicated transportation equipment to Israel, where it will be diluted to the correct concentration and distributed by Depotchem Ltd. This "virgin" urea is particularly important to the Air1 solution as, according to Haakon Indrøy, "it is the best guarantee of a quality product." It should be noted that other manufacturers such as Univar expressed an interest in the Israeli market.