Displaying items by tag: Rail
Tarmac renews rail freight contracts in UK
24 September 2020UK: CRH subsidiary Tarmac has announced its renewal of multiple contracts for transportation of its products by rail, effective until 2025. The contracts - with Colas Rail UK, GB Rail Freight, Freightliner and DB Cargo - cover the shipment of 9.0Mt/yr of cement and building products.
Head of rail Chris Swan said, “The renewal of these contracts highlights both our on-going commitment to supporting the delivery of a lower-carbon built environment and the continued enhancement of our rail freight capabilities. Effective use of the rail freight network is key in supporting the UK’s transition to a net-zero society and supporting a green recovery as we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis. Collaborative working has a vital role to play in this and we are looking forward to working with our freight operating partners as the industry focuses on increasing the volumes of material moved by rail, as well as enhancing efficiencies and service.”
NTPC Limited dispatches first rail load of fly ash from new depot to ACC Cement’s Tikaria grinding plant
17 August 2020India: State-owned energy supplier NTPC Limited has announced the shipment of 3450t of fly ash from its 3.0GW Rihand power station in Uttar Pradesh to Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary ACC Cement’s 3.0Mt/yr Tikaria grinding plant, also in Uttar Pradesh. The Orissa Diary newspaper has reported that the shipment – the first from a new purpose-built rail depot – over 458km is part of NTPC Limited’s commitment to 100% total fly ash utilisation, up from 73% in the 2020 financial year, ended 31 March 2020. ACC supply chain head Suresh Rathi said, “This will pave the way for efficient and safe transportation of all fly ash from power plants to cement production units located at a distance in larger quantity.”
NTPC Limited generates some 60.5Mt/yr of fly ash alongside 62.9GW of power.
EQIOM slashes transport carbon footprint
19 June 2020France: CRH subsidiary EQIOM has announced a 9000t/yr reduction in its transport-related CO2 emissions, down by 5% to 171,000t/yr for the past three years from 180,000t in 2017. It achieved the reduction through its commitment to the FRET21 initiative, a sustainable development strategy of the Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie (ADEME) and Association des Utilisateurs de Transport de Fret (AFAT).
The initiative is based on CO2 reduction around four key activities: loading rate; distance travelled; means of transport; and responsible purchasing. EQIOM launched five initiatives, including increasing laden returns of trucks to reduce empty transport to 28%, commissioning four new natural gas and bioethanol-powered vehicles and increasing rail freight to 89%.
EQIOM logistics manager Jérôme Becamel said, "As in the rest of the country, our transport activity has been impacted by the social situation, particularly strikes on the roads and in the railways. However, we are delighted with the results obtained for this first challenge even if we were unable to reach our ambitions 100%. We are only more motivated and we will be stepping up our efforts over the next three years.”
Belarus: Krichevcementnoshifer exported US$2.47m-worth of cement in the first quarter of 2020, up by 41% year-on-year from US$1.75m-worth in the corresponding period of 2019. Belta News has reported that the company, whose 0.6Mt/yr integrated plant at Krichev, Mogilev region serves the eastern Belarusian and Russian markets, made total sales of US$15.4m, up by 22% year-on-year from US$12.6m. Krichevcementnoshifer CEO Vladimir Korchevsky said, “We consistently ship 5000t of cement to consumers every day. April 2020 saw shipments reach 6000t/day. We can conclude that, despite the current difficulties associated with the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for our products has not decreased.”
In April 2020 Krichevcementnoshifer completed construction of an elevated track for the unloading of bulk materials from railway cars, reducing unloading time.
Cem’In’Eu plans second grinding plant
05 May 2020France: Cem’In’Eu has announced plans to establish a Euro23.0m grinding plant at Portes-lès-Valence in Drôme department. The La Tribune newspaper has reported that the plant will receive imported clinker produced at Adana Çimento’s 5.2Mt/yr integrated Adana plant in Turkey by river and rail from the port of Sète. Cem’In’Eu president and Vincent Lefebvre said that the location “allows us to be in the middle of a Lyon-Marseille-Montpellier triangle but also to be connected to the Alpine valleys.”
The grinding plant is due for commissioning in mid-July 2021, however the coronavirus has delayed the start of construction.
Geminor dispatches first rail-only RDF delivery
27 April 2020Sweden: Norway-based Geminor received a batch of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) produced at its Braunsbedra plant in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany for use at Scandinavian cement plants on 23 April 2020. The shipment was Europe’s first international shipment of RDF by rail, without the use of trucks. Geminor plans for the 110t delivery to be the first of many on the 50,000t-capacity line. Geminor CEO Kjetil Vikingstad said, “Since transport by ship is only effective within a radius of 200km from a port, central Germany becomes a natural starting point for
transport by train. This is the beginning of extensive waste transport by train in
Europe.”
South Africa: PPC has reported that it has invested US$548,000 in the construction and installation of a pneumatic offloading facility including a 250t silo at its George Depot cement terminal in the Western Cape. The company said that this ‘allows the business to receive cement by rail, improving its turnaround to customers without compromising quality.’
KuzbassTransCement transports 2.98Mt of cement in 2019
27 January 2020Russia: KuzbassTransCement’s total volume of cement transported by rail in 2019 was 2.98Mt – up by 8% from 2.76Mt in 2018. Throughout the year, it implemented upgrades worth US$29m to its transportation facilities, including the lease of an additional 145 covered wagons, 346 cement hoppers and 90 dump cars, representing roughly a 14% expansion to its fleet.
Sinotrans transports cement from Angola to DRC
30 December 2019Angola: Chinese-based Sinotrans has exported 800t of cement on the 1344km railway journey from Cimenfort’s 0.4Mt/yr Lobito grinding plant to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Angola Press Agency has reported that the cement was ground from clinker produced in China. Cimenfort sales coordinator Francisco Idelfrides suggested that the cement company may look to expand its production capacity in 2020. He said it sold 0.3Mt of cement in eastern Angola and the DRC in 2019.
Mangalore Refinery Private Limited dispatches petcoke to UltraTech cement plant by rail
06 December 2019India: UltraTech’s 3.2Mt/yr integrated Rajashree plant in Aditya Nagar, Karnataka received its first petcoke delivery by rail, dispatched from Mangalore Refinery Private Limited (MRPL)’s new mechanised handling facility. The installation cost US$23.4m and can load 3600t of coke at a time into 59 cars, enabling it to process MRPL’s refinery’s 1.0Mt/yr quickly and in a way that reduces the load on road transport.