Displaying items by tag: Contract

Switzerland/India: Engineering company ABB has secured an order worth US$18m in India to design, engineer and supply integrated automation and modern electrification systems for Century Cement's Manikgarh cement plant in central India.

ABB's delivery is part of a two-line expansion and plant modernisation project that will add production capacity of 2.8Mt/yr, more than doubling its current production capacity. The project also includes a 60MW thermal power plant onsite. providing a reliable on-site power supply that will improve energy efficiency. The turnkey project is scheduled to be completed by early 2014.

"Our proven experience in executing large and complex projects, minerals and cement industry expertise and leading automation and power technologies helped us to secure this important order," said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB's Process Automation division.

ABB will deliver integrated power and automation systems using a plant-wide 800xA automation system to control, connect and optimise the performance of all processes and systems. The scope of supply includes medium-voltage switchgear, distribution transformers and other electrical equipment and power systems, intelligent low-voltage motor control centres, variable speed drives, instrumentation and collaborative production management systems. ABB will also provide design, engineering, project commissioning and other site services.

Egypt: FLSmidth has been awarded a contract by the Egyptian National Cement Company for operation and maintenance of two of their production lines located in Cairo, Egypt. The parties have agreed not to disclose the value of the contract which covers a period of seven years but the order will contribute beneficially to FLSmidth's earnings until 2019.

The contract which is the largest operation and maintenance contract awarded to FLSmidth to date includes supply of spare parts and consumables, development of a full operation and maintenance organisation, knowledge transfer to local employees and implementation of industry best practice.

FLSmidth is currently carrying out an upgrade of the two production lines, which were originally supplied by German KHD and have been in operation since the mid 1980s. When the upgrade is completed in early 2014 each line will rise in capacity to 5200t/day from 3800t/day at present.

"We are now for the first time also taking over the operation and maintenance of a plant, which was built by a competitor and consists of a competitor's equipment, and still FLSmidth is in a better position to meet production and quality targets and optimising the customer's earnings capacity," commented group CEO Jørgen Huno Rasmussen.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement (SPC), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's biggest cement firm by market value, and Chinese engineering company Sinoma have signed a US$188m contract for the installation of a third production line at SPC's plant in Tahama.

The turnkey contract will be executed over a period of 24 months. Once completed, the third production line will have a clinker capacity of 5000t/day. SPC said that it will use its own funds to finance the project. In early March 2012, the Saudi company announced that the second production line at the Tahama plant started commercial production, bringing SPC's total capacity to 23,000t/day.

SPC, one of the nine listed cement companies operating in the Kingdom, is based in Abha, southwestern Saudi Arabia. It operates factories in Jazan, Bisha and Tahama.

Bahamas: The Mexican cement giant Cemex has been announced as the primary cement supplier for the Baha Mar tourist complex in Cable Beach, Nassau, Bahamas that is being built by CCA Bahamas Limited. It is expected that the complex will house the largest entertainment centre in the Caribbean and be completed by December 2014.

"This important project, which will generate many construction jobs, gives us great satisfaction because it will contribute to improving the quality of life of many people, which is in line with Cemex's objective of generating wellbeing through quality building solutions," said Carlos González, president of Cemex in the Bahamas.

As the primary supplier, Cemex will provide 110,000t of cement for the first phase of the project, which is currently being built on an area of 1000 acres.

Kenya: East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has severed a clinker supply contract, thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars, with Bamburi, its anchor shareholder. The decision marks the end of a four-year deal that had raised questions over potential conflicts of interest due to common shareholding and market rivalry of the two listed firms. Although EAPCC is a listed firm, it is considered a state corporation, with the majority of its shares held by the government. This makes it difficult to import its own clinker due to stringent Public Procurement Oversight Authority's rules.

The cement maker has now signed a new deal for supply of clinker with rival National Cement, which will see EAPCC save about US$3.10/t. EAPCC's managing director, Kephar Tande, said, "We found out that other players were offering lower prices, which means we could leverage on lower clinker costs to improve our profitability."

EAPCC's decision to single source the supply of clinker from Bamburi alone raised eyebrows when it was signed in 2007. Bamburi, through its parent company Lafarge, controls 41.7% of EAPCC. Lafarge also holds a 73% interest in Bamburi Cement and until 2009 held a 15% stake in the country's other cement maker, Athi River Mining. Cross ownership of the three cement companies has in the past led to accusations of unfair business practices, including collusion over price setting.

National Cement MD, Raval Narendra, said that EAPCC was now its biggest client. "We are the biggest clinker importers in the region now because we have established contacts in Europe and the Emirates. We signed a supply contract with EAPCC for 0.15Mt for 2011," he said.

Turkey: Kahramanmaras Cimento Beton Sanayii Ve Madencilik Isletmeleri (KCS) has awarded KHD Humboldt Wedag the contract to supply equipment for its second cement production line with a capacity of 4500t/day clinker near the city of Kahramanmaras in southeastern Turkey. Commissioning of both the new kiln line and the clinker grinding system is planned for the end of 2012.

Signing with KHD Humboldt Wedag for delivering clinker production line I in May 2006 allowed KIPAS Holding to enter the cement industry via the subsidiary to meet the requirements for entering the Turkish cement industry as a producer. The scope of KHD´s delivery and services includes the engineering and delivery of mechanical and electrical equipment as well as advisory supervision of erection and commissioning (including training) for the new kiln line and for the clinker grinding system. Its capacity will increase from 100t/hr to 200t/hr at a fineness of 3600cm²/g.

For its second line, KCS has chosen to install a KHD combustion chamber, with which coarse secondary fuels and/or secondary fuels associated with difficult ignition and combustion can be used. The new technology should lower the quality requirements for the alternative fuels as well as preparation requirements. This will be the second KHD combustion chamber in Turkey, following the first installation in a cement plant near Ankara. The increase in clinker capacity with the new kiln line accompanied a decision by KCS to increase the output of the existing cement mill, a ball mill of Chinese design with a throughput capacity of 100t/hr CEM I 42.5.