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World Cement Association committees set agenda for 2021 19 January 2021
UK: The Safety & Health, Environment & Climate Change and Technology & Innovation committees of the World Cement Association (WCA) have announced their goals for 2021 following the association’s general assembly meeting in December 2020.
The Environment & Climate Change committee will focus on accelerating sustainability through addressing energy efficiency, alternative fuels, digitisation, carbon capture, utilisation and/or storage (CCUS) and promoting low carbon cement and concrete. The committee also intends to seek commitments from progressive companies towards zero/low carbon cement production. The Technology & Innovation committee plans on reducing emissions and energy consumption, green product innovation, ‘Industry 4.0’ and digitalisation. It will also work with the PEGASUS 2020 programme, offering expertise on WCA benchmarking and performance improvement initiatives. The Safety & Health committee has introduced a series of initiatives for 2021, ranging from Covid-19 support and preventative measures, to managing high risk activities such as energy isolation and traffic safety. This committee also hopes to create an anonymised incident database, collected from WCA members, with the intention of avoiding high-risk incidents and sharing best practice.
“This has been a very challenging and unpredictable year for our industry, and we have all had to adapt and find new ways of working. In this context, I’m especially pleased with how our professional committees have continued to work together effectively to tackle some of the sector’s key issues.” said Ian Riley, the chief executive office (CEO) of the WCA CEO.
The February 2021 issue of Global Cement Magazine will include an interview with Ian Riley, WCA and Alex Cameron, Decarb Connect
Holcim Switzerland starts using electric concrete mixer trucks 19 January 2021
Switzerland: Holcim Switzerland has started using three full electric concrete mixer trucks. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim is working with Designwerk, a Switzerland-based company specialising in the electric mobility sector. Designwerk has equipped a motorless basic chassis of a Volvo vehicle with electric motors for both locomotion and the mixing drum. This is intended to be sustainable and offer quiet driving, mixing and unloading. The three vehicles are expected to save around 90t/yr of CO2.
The trucks are labeled with the Futuricum brand and are active in the St Gallen, Zurich and Basel regions. The building materials company says that electric vehicles suit concrete logistics because they cover relatively short transport routes and have a fixed starting point with a battery charging station in the Holcim concrete works. Holcim says it obtains the electricity it needs exclusively from renewable energy sources.
South African trade commission starts review of tariffs on cement imports from Pakistan 18 January 2021
South Africa: The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) started a ‘sunset’ review in December 2020 of import tariffs imposed on cement from Pakistan. The investigation will last up to 18 months, according to Moneyweb. Existing anti-dumping duties, which were first implemented in 2015, will remain in place during proceedings.
The review by ITAC follows lobbying by the Concrete Institute (TCI) in 2019 to add additional protection against imports of cement from other countries like Vietnam. Construction industry data company Industry Insight reports that Vietnam accounted for 70% or 0.47Mt of the 0.68Mt of cement imported into South Africa in the first nine months of 2020. The remaining 30% or 0.20Mt came from Pakistan.
Hauliers strike causes cement shortages in Mali 18 January 2021
Mali: A strike by two hauliers unions based in Senegal has caused cement shortages. The Union des Routiers du Sénégal and the Intersyndicale du Secteur des Transports Routiers both started strike action in late December 2020, according to Bamako News. The country has three main cement plants - Ciments et Matériaux du Mali (CMM), Diamond Ciment (DCM-SA) and Ciments d'Afrique (CIMAF) – but these companies only have a production capacity of 2Mt/yr. This is estimated to be 50% of Mali’s national requirement of 4Mt/yr. Commentators have called for a national cement supply policy in response to the situation and to reduce reliance on imports.
Raysut Cement’s revenue grows by 7% to US$235m in 2020 18 January 2021
Oman: Raysut Cement’s revenue grew by 7% year-on-year to US$235m in 2020 from US$219m in 2019. Its profit after tax increased to US$36.5m from US$5.88m.