Displaying items by tag: GCW375

Well, it turns out that the European cement industry wasn’t kidding when it raised the risks of the climate mitigation on the sector. This week three (!) integrated plants have been earmarked for closure.

Cementa in Sweden said that it was considering closing its Degerhamn plant due to increased environmental regulations. Today, local press in Spain is reporting that Cemex España is planning to shut down two of its plants. These are plants in different parts of Europe with different local market dynamics but both are within the European Union (EU). That’s three plants closing out of 219 in the EU, or a loss of around 1% of production capacity.

Last week’s column on the United Nations’ (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Global Warming raised the way the cement sector is tackling climate change and the existing and impending legislation. President of the German Cement Works Association (VDZ) Christian Knell’s opening words at the VDZ Congress in September 2018 seem prescient. He said, “To be able to realise our efforts in terms of climate protection and at the same time not to lose competitiveness, we need research policy-related support for our investment in breakthrough technologies and the corresponding demonstration projects.” The add-on was that the industry needed to focus on how the development of carbon abatement technologies can meet the 2050 climate goals and, specifically, that suitable boundary conditions would have to be created. The press releases accompanying his speech emphasised that, “on-going trends in European emissions trading and the ‘rapidly increasing’ price of CO₂ were already today leading to considerable costs for cement manufacturers.”

These words are similar to the comments Albert Scheuer, a board member of HeidelbergCement, made at the Innovation in Industrial Carbon Capture Conference early in 2018 about dividing the mounting environmental costs of cement and concrete between producers and society in general. Considering how much cementitious building materials most people use throughout their lives compared to the relative low price of cement, this argument carries some weight. In addition, the sustainability credentials of concrete buildings through longer lifespan and durability through extreme weather events is another argument that industry advocates such as the Portland Cement Association (PCA) in the US have been hawking in recent years.

Cementa, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, blamed anticipated tightening of environmental regulations for its decision. Although it said that the plant had made improvements over the years, the expected difficulty (read: cost) to make further improvements was becoming too hard. Shifting production to the company’s other two plants in the region, Slite on Gotland and Brevik in Norway, will reduce CO₂ emissions by 260,000t/yr.

In Spain, the news from Cemex follows a half-year report from Oficemen, the local cement association, that predicted growth for the year but not as fast as previously expected. The problem was that continued declines in the export market, the 13th decline month-by-month in a row, offset the domestic growth. Oficement president Jesús Ortiz also took time to blame rising electricity costs, expected to rise by 20% year-on-year by the end of 2018.

Market issues in Spain aren’t in doubt, but the real question for both Sweden and Spain is whether EU CO₂ legislation right now is causing cement producers to shut plants. The CO₂ emissions allowance price hit a high of Euro22/t in September 2018, the highest price in a decade. Allowances have stayed below Euro10/t since 2011 and the price has more than doubled in 2018. Throw in the mood music of the IPCC and the trend seems irresistible. How many more plants in Europe are at risk to shut next? No doubt the European cement producers have charts marking the viability of their plants against the CO₂ price. This would be a very interesting graph to get our hands on.

The 2nd FutureCem Conference on CO₂ reduction strategies for the cement industry will take place in May 2019 in London, UK

Germany: Pietro de Michieli has been appointed as the managing director of Aumund. He assumed the role at the start of September 2018 and will focus on equipment sales, spare parts and after sales service.

Previously, de Michieli was the managing director of OMG MGM Cranes, part of Bedeschi Group. Prior to that he was chief operating officer of Bedeschi and a member of the board of directors responsible for the business unit bulk handling, marine logistics and mining and minerals, with a particular focus on sales, marketing, design, manufacturing, purchasing and project management.
Earlier in his career he was projects director with Endeco Engineering Design Construction and project manager at Danieli. He holds a doctorate in electro-mechanical engineering from the University of Padua, Italy.

Since January 2018 de Michieli has been a member of the board of directors of PEMA (Port Equipment Manufacturers Association), a forum and public voice for the global port equipment and technology sectors. He will support a bid for membership of PEMA by the Aumund group of companies.

Spain: Miguel Ángel López has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens Spain following the resignation of Rosa García García. García has decided to leave the company and will handover the role on 1 December 2018 and then continue in an advisory role until the end of the year. López, aged 53 years, has been working most recently as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE). The CFO role will be filled by David Mesonero, currently SGRE's Head of Corporate Development, Strategy and Integration.

Italy: Giulio Bozzini has been appointed as the chief financial officer (CFO) of Tenova. He will report to chief executive officer (CEO) Andrea Lovato.

He holds 30 years of financial and operational experience working for multinational companies. Since 1994, he has worked in Saipem, eventually becoming chief financial and strategy officer. From 2012 to 2016 was the executive vice president planning and control for Eni, an oil and gas subsidiary of Saipem. Bozzini graduated in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan.

Spain: Cemex España is preparing to close its cement plants at Gádor in Almería and Lloseta in Baleares. It has blamed reduced demand for cement and European regulations on CO₂ emissions for the decision, according to the Cinco Días newspaper. The closures will affect 200 employees and the cement producer is has started to hold union discussions. Cemex will retain integrated plants at Morata de Jalón, Alicante, Alcanar, Castillejo Anover and Buñol.

Lesotho: Lafarge South Africa and Lephema Executive Group have launched a cement plant project, Maloti Mountain Cement. Thesele Maseribane, Minister of Communications, attended the ceremony with representatives of Lafarge South Africa, according to the Informative newspaper. Although reported at an ‘initial stage’ of development, the project has hired 150 employees.

China: Guangdong Tapai has ordered two coal mills from Germany’s Loesche for its two 10,000t/day clinker production lines in Jiaoling, Meizhou in Guangdong. This is a repeat order, following an order for two LM 35.3 D coal mills that was made in 2015. The 3-roller mill grinds 50t/hr of pulverised coal to a fineness of 3% with a sieving residue of 0.08 mm. The installed power is 1200kW. The order has been placed through Loesche Shanghai and the two newly ordered coal mills are expected to be delivered in April 2019.

Peru: Cal & Cemento Sur (Calcesur) plans to add a sixth production line to its cement and lime plant in Puno at the end of October 2018. The upgrade will increase the unit’s production capacity to 1Mt/yr from 0.63Mt/yr, according to the Gestion newspaper. The company says that following the expansion the site will be the largest lime plant in Latin America.

The subsidiary of Gloria Group has targeted a 12% year-on-year growth in sales in 2019. It plans to sell lime to the mining sector in northern Chile and it is also focusing on Ecuador and Bolivia. The company plans to launch lime-sand bricks in 2019 for local demand and in Chile.

The cement and lime producer also plans to launch its Tipo LH cement product at the end of October 2018 and to sell cement in 25kg bags. At present, the company sells 42.5kg bags.

France/Syria: A judicial investigation has seized Euro4m from former Lafarge executives, including former chief executive officer (CEO) Bruno Lafont, as part of a probe into the company’s conduct in Syria. Sources quoted by the Agence France Presse said that Euro2.5m was confiscated from Lafont’s leaving package of Euro8.4m as Lafarge merged with Holcim to form LafargeHolcim. Funds were also taken from Bruno Pescheux and Frédéric Jolibois, the former directors of Lafarge Cement Syria, and from Christian Herrault, a dormer deputy general regional manager with overview of Syria.

Lafarge SA, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, has been placed under judicial investigation over its actions in Syria between 2011 and 2014. It has been accused of complicity in crimes against humanity and financing terrorism. A panel of three judges in Paris has ordered Lafarge to pay over Euro30m as a security deposit ahead of the trial. Eight former executives, including Lafont, have been charged in connection to the investigation.

Sweden: Cementa says it is considering decommissioning clinker and cement production at its 0.3Mt/yr Degerhamn plant due to increased environmental regulations. Production will be shifted to other local plants at Slite on Gotland and Brevik in Norway, and the site retained as a port terminal.

The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement said that although the unit had made several investments over the years to reduce its environmental impact its production equipment was difficult to adapt to future requirements for lower CO₂ emissions. Concentrating production to the other plants would mean a reduction in CO₂ emissions of 260,000t/yr.

75 employees work at the plant at Degerhamn. Union negotiations will start immediately and upon their conclusion the cement producer will make a final decision about the future of the plant. If decommissioning goes ahead then clinker and cement production will cease in 2019.