Displaying items by tag: GCW147

Zuari Cement's ground breaking of a new port-side packing terminal in Kochi, Kerala is the latest Indian cement news story with an eye on the sea. The Italcementi subsidiary's terminal won't be open until 2015 but the move shows that Indian producers are starting to tackle industry over-capacity through shipping lanes.

The Italcementi subsidiary holds two integrated cement plants and a grinding plant in Andhra Padesh and Tamil Nadu, two of India's biggest cement-producing states. In 2013 Italcementi reported that cement consumption fell for the first time in 10 years. Although Italcementi's cement and clinker sales rose by 1.6% in India in 2013, its revenue fell by 14% to Euro214m. Profit indicators like earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) also fell. Targeting Kerala, one of the country's smallest cement producing states (0.6Mt/yr in 2013), makes sense.

Zuari Cement isn't the only Indian cement producer with its eye on shipping or on Kerala. At the end of March 2014, Gujarat producer Sanghi Industries announced plans to invest US$25m in ships and sea terminals. It plans to acquire six vessels in the next five years. It is also in the process of setting up terminals at Navlakhi port in Gujarat and at Mumbai port in Maharashtra.

Sanghi has stated that its aims are to find new markets, reduce fuel costs and increase its distribution networks. In an interview with Alok Sanghi, the director of Sanghi Cement, for a forthcoming issue of Global Cement Magazine, Sanghi revealed that Kerala is one of the four markets the producer focuses on within India (alongside Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra).

Neighbouring Pakistan is no stranger to exporting its cement around the world. Frequent complaints from east and south African press and cement producers attest to this. However, this week's story about plans to build the country's first 'dirty cargo' terminal at Port Qasim, Karachi marks a change from the normal narrative.

According to a Pakistan cement producer who Global Cement interviewed earlier in 2014, coal is the most common fuel used to fire cement kilns following a shift from gas in recent years. Subsequently coal prices rose, leading to higher cement prices in the country. A new terminal with the capacity to handle 12Mt/yr of coal (growing to 20Mt/yr in a second phase of the build) could certainly help cut input prices for the industry.

The producer also mentioned that most of the coal that Pakistan currently uses is imported from Indonesia and South Africa. So, indirectly, the South African coal industry appears to be making money helping to make Pakistan cement that eventually arrives back in South Africa to undercut local cement producers! They say that market always finds a way. Ships certainly help.

India: Italcementi subsidiary Zuari Cement has held the ground breaking ceremony for a cement packing terminal in Kochi, Kerala. The port-based facility will be ready by the third quarter of 2015 and it will have a packing capacity of 1Mt/yr of cement. Roberto Callieri, zone director of the group, was the chief guest at the ceremony.

China: Guangdong Tapai Group plans to invest about US$570m towards building a new clinker production line in Meizhou City in Guangdong Province. The line will include two 10,000t/day rotary kiln clinker production lines and two 20MW low-temperature waste heat power generation system. The project will produce 6Mt/yr of clinker and is pending government approval.

Spain: Workers at Holcim Spain have approved a preliminary agreement for a downsizing plan for 122 employees. With the agreement, the trade unions managed to reduce the number of employees included in the downsizing plan by 13.4% from the 141 workers originally intended.

Canada: The Nova Scotia government has said that hydraulic fracturing waste water is going to be shipped to a Lafarge Canada cement plant in Brookfield for use in cement production. Environment Minister Randy Delorey presented details of the pilot project at a community meeting in Truro.

Atlantic Industrial Services will ship 2Ml of waste water from holding ponds in Debert to Brookfield over a three week period. The water will be used as coolant in the kiln and evaporated at 700°C. Lafarge will test its equipment for residual inorganic materials before and after using the water.

Pakistan: A US$130m contract for the construction of Pakistan's first dirty cargo terminal, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), at Port Qasim has been awarded to China Harbour Works.

The total cost of the PIBT will be US$250m, which will include the cost of equipment. In the first phase the terminal will have the capacity to handle 12Mt/yr of imported coal, 5Mt/yr of cement and 2Mt/yr of clinker. In the second phase the PIBT will expand its capacity of imported coal to 20Mt/yr to meet the growing energy demand of the country.

China Harbour Works will start civil work on the terminal within a month and complete it within two years. Coal imports to Pakistan are expected to grow given that most of the new power plants under construction are coal based and many old plants are also being converted to use coal.

US: Gebr. Pfeiffer Inc., the US subsidiary of Germany's Gebr. Pfeiffer SE, has been contracted to supply a new raw material vertical roller mill for the Holcim (US) Hagerstown plant as part of a wider renovation project. The order was placed through KHD Humboldt Wedag, which is the engineering and equipment supplier for the Hagerstown plant modernisation. KHD has been contracted to modify the existing production line to increase the plant's potential production rate to approximately 2400t/day and to comply with the new NESHAP environmental regulations.

KHD's scope of supply begins with modifying the raw material feed system and continues through to the clinker handling system and storage hall. As part of the solution, a new raw material grinding mill, the MPS 3750 B, along with all related engineering services will be supplied by Gebr. Pfeiffer, Inc. The raw material grinding mill includes a rotary air lock with drive, MPS 3750 B mill, an SLS 3150 B high efficiency classifier and includes Gebr. Pfeiffer's patented 'Lift and Swing' technology.

Commissioning for this project is planned for mid-2016.

Kenya: Savannah Cement plans to invest US$200m to develop a clinker plant. Currently, most of the major cement companies in Kenya rely on imported clinker.

Savannah Cement board chairman Benson Ndeta announced that the company, which currently has a production capacity of more than 1.5Mt/yr of cement, will develop the clinker plant to boost its market share. Ndeta said that the firm hopes to be a major competitor in the regional market in the supply of cement to Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan after satisfying its local market with cement.

Bangladesh/India: The Indian compliance adviser/ombudsman (CAO) is assessing a complaint that was filed in January 2014 against Lafarge Surma Cement's land acquisition and limestone quarrying operation close to the villages of Shella and Tynger in Meghalaya state.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, partly financed a project with Lafarge Surma Cement for the construction and operation of an integrated cement plant in Bangladesh, which is very close to the border with Meghalaya, India from where the limestone is obtained.

"The complaint raises concerns about the legitimacy of the land acquisition and the process used for the project's limestone quarrying operation close to the villages of Shella and Tynger in Meghalaya," said the CAO. The complainants said that the Khasi indigenous people have been deprived of their land, their livelihood has been impacted and their customary land rights and systems have not been respected.

Kenya: Industrialisation and Enterprise Development cabinet secretary Adan Mohamed has confirmed the extension of Kephar Tande's term for a further three years as the managing director of East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC). The appointment is effective from 16 November 2013.

His confirmation has been pending since 2013 after the company's board requested that the government renew his term, which ended in October 2013, after being in the position since November 2011.

"I wish to thank the cabinet secretary and president, Uhuru Kenyatta, for the re-appointment. I am committed to fully implementing the strategy that the company has embarked on to raise its market share and to ensure that EAPCC is a leading cement manufacturer, for the welfare of our staff and the benefit of all of our stakeholders," Tande said.