September 2024
Chile: Cemento Polpaico has changed its commercial strategy following a poor year for the construction industry in 2016. The cement producer has moved from a geographical approach to one based on the profile and sector of its customers, according to the Diario Financiero newspaper. It has also reorganised its business into three segments: retail, construction and special projects.
LafargeHolcim agreed to sell its controlling stake in Cemento Polpaico to Inversiones Caburga in late 2016. However, the transaction is still awaiting approval by the Fiscalía Nacional Económica.
Cemex opens admixture plant in Panama 21 April 2017
Panama: Cemex Panama has opened its first admixture plant in the Panama Pacifico Free Trade Zone. The unit is part of US$15m series of investments by the construction materials company in the country, according to the El Economista newspaper. Products from the plant will be used locally and exported elsewhere in Central America and to the Caribbean.
LafargeHolcim to double production in Ivory Coast 21 April 2017
Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim intends to double its cement production capacity to 2Mt/yr from May 2017. The increase in production will follow the commissioning of a new 1Mt/yr mill, according to the Fraternité Matin newspaper. The mill has cost US$24.5m to install. LafargeHolcim operates a 1Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Abidjan. The upgrade is expected to raise local production to 5.1Mt/yr.
Spain: Cementos Cosmos has stopped exports from its Niebla cement plant due to an increase in the price of petcoke. The subsidiary of Brazil’s Votorantim has also implemented a Temporary Regulation of Employment from June 2017 to May 2018 that will enable it to suspend workers or reduce working hours, according to the Huelva Información newspaper. The cement producer says it is waiting for planning permission to install a dosing system for waste fuels that will cut it fuel bill. However, the local community has opposed attempts to use alternative waste fuels previously.
McInnis Cement starts building terminal in New York 21 April 2017
US: Canada’s McInnis Cement has started building a terminal in the South Bronx region of New York. The 6930m2 warehouse will be able to store 43,000t of cement and load up to 80 trucks/day. Cement will be delivered to the site from McInnis’ plant in Port-Daniel, Gascons, Quebec. A barge-mounted ship unloader travelling between New York and Providence will be used to pneumatically transfer the cement into the warehouse.
Additional features to the terminal include a 24-hour operations schedule, rooftop solar panels and a fully enclosed truck load out system will mitigate dust. The site was chosen due to its access to the New York City Harbour. The area is also expected to see an investment of over US$45bn towards infrastructure projects and another US$6bn towards repairs following Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“We are very excited to being one step closer to delivering cement to our customers in this area and along the east coast,” said McInnis Cement chief executive officer, Herve Mallet. “Once complete, the facility will set a new standard for development in the New York City Harbour, placing in harmony an industrial operation, with a natural wildlife habitat and waterfront access for citizens of the South Bronx.”
India: The State High Level Clearance Committee of Karnataka has approved an expansion project at Birla Shakti Cement’s plant in Vasavadatta and a new plant at Gulbarga that will be built by India Cements. Birla Shakti Cement, a subsidiary of Kesoram Industries, is planning a US$97m upgrade to increase the plant’s production capacity to 9Mt/yr from 4.1Mt/yr. India Cements is planning to build a 2Mt/yr plant at Gulbarga.
Morocco: LafargeHolcim is preparing to inaugurate its Laâyoune cement grinding plant. The unit is expcted to join Ciments du Maroc, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, that also operates a grinding plant in the south of the country, accoridng to the Aujourd'hui Le Maroc newspaper. In addition to these plants Anouar Invest also announced plans in late 2015 to build a 0.5Mt/yr cement plant in the region under the name of Ciement Sud (CIMSUD).
Habesha Cement inaugurates Holeta plant 21 April 2017
Ethiopia: Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn has inaugurated Habesha Cement’s 1.4Mt/yr plant at Holeta in Oromia. The US$140m unit was built by Chinese contractor Northern Heavy Industry, according to the Ethiopian Herald newspaper. Dessalegn said that the new plant is part of the national plan to surpass local cement production of 27Mt/yr by the end of the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) that will end in 2020. The plant is now expected to create 600 jobs in its operational phase.
The subsidiary of PPC is the third international project the South African cement producer has completed over the last year. On 17 April 2017 PPC Barnet in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) despatched its first truckload of saleable cement from the plant near Kimpese in the Kongo Central. The 1Mt/yr cement plant was commissioned in February 2017.
"With the completion of the plants in the DRC and Ethiopia we have achieved two significant milestones in our quest to become a major player in the cement industry across Africa" said Njombo Lekula, Managing Director, International operations, PPC. “Both plants have been built using the latest technologies, in line with international standards.”
UK: Flexicon has launched its Bulk-Out bulk bag discharging system for use in explosive environments. The model features a pneumatically-powered hoist and trolley to raise and position the bag inside the discharger frame, reducing the risk of potential sparks from electrical equipment or fork trucks that might be otherwise used for this function.
A Spout-Lock clamp ring forms a dust seal between the clean side of the bag spout and the clean side of the equipment, while a Tele-Tube telescoping tube maintains downward tension on the bag as it empties and elongates, promoting complete discharge of free- and non-free-flowing material from the bag. The all-stainless-steel construction is designed to withstand corrosive environments and allows rapid, thorough wash down with caustic cleaning solutions. The unit is available with a hopper and pneumatically-driven flexible screw conveyor, a tubular cable conveyor or a rotary airlock valve to feed material into a pneumatic conveyor line.
Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement’s net profit fell by 66% year-on-year to US$13.5m in the first quarter of 2017. Its revenue fell by 41% to US$59m. according to Trade Arabia. The cement producer’s cement sales fell by 25% to 1.24Mt. The result has been blamed on low cement sales and prices.