Displaying items by tag: Germany

Germany: Global Cement is attending Powtech 2023 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, on 26 – 28 September 2023. Powtech is the International Processing Trade Fair for powder, bulk solids, fluids and liquids. Find us at Stand 2-524 in Hall 2.

Germany: Holcim Deutschland has commenced a carbon capture trial at its 950,000t/yr Beckum cement plant in Beckum-Kollenbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The trial will employ amine scrubbing technology to separate CO₂, which it will then seek to commercialise for other industrial uses. Holcim Deutschland's partners for the project are Technische Universität Berlin and construction engineering firm thyssenkrupp Uhde. The trial also has funding from the German government.

Hungary: The Hungarian National Professional Association of Construction Contractors (ÉVOSZ) has claimed that the government of Hungary has initiated negotiations to acquire Duna Dráva Cement and Holcim Magyarország. 24.hu News has reported that the construction industry is facing on-going cement supply issues due to a purported decline in domestic production. ÉVOSZ said that its members’ reliance on imports of cement has risen to 60% from 40%.

Duna Dráva Cement clarified that its joint owners, Germany-based Heidelberg Materials and Schwenk Zement, are ‘committed to their investment in Hungary and are not negotiating its sale.’

Meanwhile, Switzerland-based Holcim said "We are not in a position to comment on the news that the Hungarian state is negotiating with domestic cement producers and/or their foreign owners for the purpose of acquiring shares."

Germany: Chemicals company BASF has won a contract to supply its OASE Blue CO₂ separation technology for use in the upcoming 70,000t/yr carbon capture installation at Heidelberg Material's Lengfurt cement plant in Bavaria. The Capture to Use (Cap2U) project, in partnership with fellow chemicals company Linde, aims to capture CO₂ from the plant for use in the chemicals, food and beverages industries.

BASF head of gas treatment Andreas Northemann said “Our portfolio of OASE technologies makes a significant contribution to sustainability and is perfectly suited to help our customers achieve their sustainability targets. This carbon capture and use unit facility has the potential to become a show-case project in a hard-to-abate sector."

Germany: Flender has officially completed construction work on an expansion at its site in Voerde with the opening of its new logistics and storage hall for the assembly of large gear units. The hall has been built on an open area on the company's premises covering almost 8000m². The new building is part of the drive manufacturer’s investments to be able to handle the expected growth in the global wind energy business and to drive the energy transition in Europe. In addition to large components for wind power gearboxes, the logistics hall will also serve its industrial business. The company has also leased another 10,000m² hall, directly next door to its Voerde unit, to further support its logistics.

Flender’s chief executive officer Andreas Evertz said "With the new storage areas, we are making our logistics processes sustainable and thus reducing a considerable part of the previous transport routes and the associated CO2 emissions. Components that were previously stored elsewhere can now be stored centrally and made available for assembly more quickly with optimised transport routes.”

Flender’s Voerde plant is the company’s largest in Germany with an area of 276,000m². It employs 1500 people.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials recorded sales of Euro4.9bn during the first quarter of 2023, up by 13% year-on-year. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 42% to Euro557m from Euro394m. The producer said that energy prices in the quarter eased slightly, but remained ‘volatile’ and were still well above previous years. Heidelberg Materials upgraded its outlook for 2023 to a ‘moderate’ rise in sales, with earnings of Euro2.5 - 2.65bn, compared to Euro2.35bn - 2.65bn in its previous outlook.

During the quarter under review, Heidelberg Materials expanded its circularity offering through the acquisition of demolition waste recycling company SER Group in Germany and of fly ash recycling company SEFA Group in the US. It linked its financing to its climate targets through the issue of a sustainability-linked loan in January 2023.

Chair Dominik von Achten said “We have had a good start into 2023. In the first quarter, we were able to achieve a strong increase in revenue and results. Our operations in North America and Europe made a particular contribution to this success –we can keep building on this during the rest of the year. We are optimistic about the full year 2023.”

Tanzania: The government has defended its support for the acquisition of a majority stake in Tanga Cement by a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials. In 2021 Scancem International, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials, agreed to buy a 68% share of Tanga Cement from AfriSam for around US$59m. The Fair Competition Commission (FCC) provisionally approved the deal but the Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) blocked it in late 2022 following lobbying by Chalinze Cement and the Tanzania Consumer Advocacy Society on the grounds that it would potentially reduce market competition, according to the Citizen newspaper. However, Scancem International applied again to the FCC in December 2022 to push through the agreement. This motion was then approved in February 2023.

During a parliamentary debate on the issue in early May 2023 Ashatu Kijaji, the Minister for Industry and Trade, defended the decision to re-approve the deal on the grounds that the approved merger application was different from the one rejected by the FCT. However, other members of parliament were sceptical about the decision.

Germany: Global Cement is attending Interpack 2023 in Düsseldorf. The trade fair for the packaging sector is taking place at the Messe Düsseldorf from 4 – 10 May 2023. It covers packaging materials, packaging machines and related process technology for the food, beverage, confectionery, bakery, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, non-food and industrial goods sectors. Over 2700 exhibitors are present at the event with representation from more than 60 countries.

UK: Germany-based Beumer Group has opened a new local head office at Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire. The previous head office in the country, near London, will continue to operate as a satellite office.

David McGarry, the chief executive officer of Beumer Group UK, said “The opening of the new UK head office reinforces our strong partnership and commitment to our customers in the UK and Ireland, this will enable us to provide an even more seamless service to support them in their continued growth investing in local expertise in the long term.”

Beumer Group sells products for conveying, loading, palletising, packaging, sortation and baggage handling.

Poland: Germany-based IKN says that erection works of a new IKN-supplied cooler are in progress at Lafarge Poland’s Małogoszcz cement plant. The Euro100m upgrade project is building a new 3700t/day clinker production line at the unit to replace the existing three lines. A new alternative fuels line will also be installed to reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 20% and its energy consumption by 33%. China National Building Material (CNBM) subsidiary Nanjing Kisen International Engineering was previously reported as being the lead contractor on the project.