Displaying items by tag: Trucks

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has replaced 11% of its concrete truck fleet with 61 new natural gas and Euro V diesel-fuelled Sinotruk vehicles worth US$6.2m. The company says that some of the trucks run on 100% natural gas, reducing both their CO₂ and particulate emissions by 25%. Parent company Holcim hopes eventually to roll out Sinotruk vehicles throughout operations in its Latin American region. Each truck has an 8m3-greater capacity than Holcim Mexico’s previous models, and also generates less noise.

Singapore: Pan-United Concrete has started a partnership with Surbana Jurongto study the feasibility of using electric and hydrogen fuel cells to power a fleet of more than 1000 trucks. The agreement is intended to support Pan-United’s sustainability targets to offer only low-carbon concrete by 2030, carbon-neutral concrete products by 2040 and to become a carbon-neutral ready-mix concrete company by 2050.

Yeo Choon Chong, the Chief Executive Officer of Surbana Jurong's Association of Southeast Asian Nations division, said, "We applaud Pan-United's ambition to decarbonise its heavy vehicle fleet and are excited to contribute to its sustainability initiative by leveraging our expertise in electrification and hydrogen solutions. Partnerships are a key method of accelerating our collective efforts to build for a safe, sustainable and resilient future for all."

Kenya: Bamburi Cement has launched Women on Wheels, a women-centred recruitment programme aimed at encouraging more women into truck driving. The Kenya News Agency has reported that the company plans to recruit at least 100 new cement truck drivers annually under the scheme. Women on Wheels will additionally work to increase health and safety, challenge entrenched sexism and improve working conditions for all of the company’s drivers.

Managing Director Seddiq Hassani said “The gender gap is far from closed, however we are determined to increase the promotion of women in every aspect of our operations.”

UK: 200 Hanson UK cement truck drivers have ended a one-month strike after accepting an improved pay deal. Construction Enquirer News has reported that the producer has retroactively increased drivers’ pay by 2.8% from 1 January 2021 and agreed to increase pay by a further 3.3% from 1 January 2022. Drivers’ overnight allowance will retroactively increase to Euro49.7/night from 1 October 2021, and the company has committed to a transformation of bank holiday working arrangements. Additionally, its management will share its fleet replacement programme with its drivers.

UK: 200 Hanson truck drivers began voting on proposed strike action on 10 September 2021. Building Design Online News has reported that the drivers’ union, Unite, has proposed the measure in response to a ‘hefty pay cut.’ The HeidelbergCement subsidiary offered a 2.5% pay rise to truck drivers for 2022. The union said that UK inflation was currently at 3.9%. It added that a strike would lead to a cement shortage affecting some of the country’s largest projects, including the HS2 high-speed railway. Voting will conclude on 24 September 2021.

Mexico: Cemex has partnered with Sweden-based Volvo to develop a zero-emissions cement fleet. The implementation will extend to mobile construction equipment, trucks, productivity solutions, and uptime services. A Cemex European site will host trials of the technologies.

Head of global sustainability Vicente Saiso said “Working together with a leading global company in electromobility construction equipment and trucks such as Volvo will strengthen our efforts to address climate change and reduce our carbon footprint to reach net zero by 2050. We are excited to collaborate and develop a roadmap to introduce electric trucks and equipment throughout our operations.”

France: Lafarge France has awarded a contract to Germany-based Inform for the supply of its transport optimisation software across its 160 aggregates locations and 900-truck fleet. The software uses algorithms to analyse scheduling decisions in real-time and identify those that are ideal for minimising costs and maximising service and on-time performance.

Supply chain projects head Kevin Perrault said “We have been using Inform’s transport optimisation software for over 25 years in our aggregates business.” He added “We pride ourselves in delivering the best possible service to our customers, and upgrading our operations to the latest version is a key element to help us achieve our goals and to remain competitive in the industry.”

Nigeria: The first set of female drivers has graduated from the Lafarge Driving Institute (LDI) in Calabar, Cross River state. Lafarge Africa said that this demonstrated its commitment to enabling inclusive workplaces for women, professional gender diversity, road safety through training and the creation of local jobs. The LDI admitted 53 female trainees in March 2021.

The institute was launched in late 2017 in partnership with Lafarge Africa, Automated Integrated Services and the Federal Road Safety Corps. It was set up to improve driver quality and to ensure that heavy goods vehicles (HGV) are manned by professionals who have passed through a training programme.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) says it has developed new software in-house to manage its weighbridges. The new system it intended to supply reports in real time about truck and material movements at its plants. Use of the new system started in July 2021.

Switzerland: Holcim Switzerland has started using three full electric concrete mixer trucks. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim is working with Designwerk, a Switzerland-based company specialising in the electric mobility sector. Designwerk has equipped a motorless basic chassis of a Volvo vehicle with electric motors for both locomotion and the mixing drum. This is intended to be sustainable and offer quiet driving, mixing and unloading. The three vehicles are expected to save around 90t/yr of CO₂.

The trucks are labeled with the Futuricum brand and are active in the St Gallen, Zurich and Basel regions. The building materials company says that electric vehicles suit concrete logistics because they cover relatively short transport routes and have a fixed starting point with a battery charging station in the Holcim concrete works. Holcim says it obtains the electricity it needs exclusively from renewable energy sources.