Displaying items by tag: UK

UK: Lafarge Cement's vision for the future is starting to take shape at the company's former cement works at Northfleet in Kent, UK, where it is conducting a major investment to reconnect rail freight facilities to the main north Kent line. Lafarge expects the rail sidings to be operational by mid February 2012.

The first main user of the restored line will be the cross-London rail project, Crossrail, which will transport excavated material from a tunnel bore near Paddington, London by train to Northfleet for onward transportation by ship.

Balfour Beatty Rail is carrying out all the design and construction of the new sidings and connection to the main line, whilst Chunnel Group has carried out the siding preparation works within the main site. The overall length of the rail link is around 2.25km and in total 4.75km of new track will be provided.

The 104-acre site is undergoing redevelopment by Lafarge in association with the Councils of Kent and Gravesham. The linkage of the site to the main line represents another important step in the regeneration of Northfleet embankment.

UK: The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has referred the proposed UK construction materials joint venture between Anglo American plc and Lafarge SA to the Competition Commission for further investigation. The companies had proposed the establishment of a 50:50 joint venture to which each of them would contribute the bulk of their construction materials businesses in the UK.

The OFT concluded that competition concerns arise in a number of markets including: overlaps in the supply of aggregates, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete in a large number of local areas (as well as particular types of aggregates at regional and national level); an overlap in the supply of bulk grey cement at a regional and/or national level, as well as, separately, an increased prospect of coordination in the supply of bulk grey cement; and a concern that the joint venture could foreclose independent ready-mix concrete suppliers by making it substantially more difficult for them to source bulk grey cement at competitive prices.

Ali Nikpay, OFT Senior Director, said - "The proposed joint venture would bring together Tarmac's and Lafarge's construction material assets in the UK. This represents a significant structural change in this sector and raises serious competition issues in several markets which need to be considered in detail by the Competition Commission. Although the parties did offer to divest a variety of assets in order to try to resolve the issues identified, we are not confident that the package proposed would clearly remove our concerns in all areas."

Anglo American and Lafarge provided a significant quantity of information and analysis to the OFT to inform its review. The OFT also received information from around 300 customers and competitors of the two parties as part of its merger investigation. The Competition Commission is expected to report by 16 February 2012. This announcement follows the OFT's decision in August 2011 to refer the UK cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates sectors to the Competition Commission.

UK: The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published a market study into cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates. It proposes to refer these key sectors of the construction industry to the Competition Commission for more detailed investigation.

Key issues that the OFT study covered featured the high barriers to entry in these sectors due to the difficulty of obtaining planning permission and the level of investment required. It was noted that high and increasing concentration dominated the market with five major players accounting for over 90% of the cement market and 68% of ready-mix concrete production.

The study picked up on the effects of vertical integration pointing out that the major firms are integrated across ready-mix concrete and cement. The OFT had also received complaints about vertically integrated firms refusing to supply or discriminating against non-integrated competitors through their pricing. Multiple contacts and information exchanges across the markets were mentioned, with major firms supplying each other with both aggregates and cement and engaging in joint ventures and asset swaps.

Lastly the study noticed an apparent squeeze between rising cement prices and stable or falling ready-mix concrete prices, affecting independents that both buy cement from vertically integrated majors and compete against them in the ready-mix concrete market.

John Fingleton, OFT Chief Executive, said, "We are concerned that competition is not working well in these sectors, with underlying features of the market giving rise to persistent concerns."

Cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates sectors had a combined turnover in 2009 of up to Euro3.86bn and are vital inputs in the construction sector, which represents 7% of UK GDP. Some 40% of construction expenditure is in the public sector, for schools, hospitals, roads and other physical and social infrastructure, with central government being the biggest customer.

The OFT will consult until 30 September 2011 on its proposal to refer the market to the Competition Commission. Key parties will be contacted directly but parties wishing to make a submission are invited to contact the OFT in writing.

UK: Plans to burn used tyres and plastics for energy at Lafarge's Aberthaw works in South Wales have been submitted to the Environment Agency for approval. Lafarge's comes after it sent out 5000 letters to residents explaining the latest proposals and held two public consultations. The proposal has previously sparked concerns among some residents and environmentalists.

The plant's management team says that the move would cut costs and reduce coal burning and CO₂ emissions. The proposal comes six years after the Lafarge meat and bone meal (MBM) from cows and sheep as a sustainable waste-derived fuel at the plant. If the move is approved by the Environment Agency, the used Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), including papers and plastics, and end-of-life car and van tyres, could save up to 15,500t/yr of coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 20,000t/yr.

James Kirkpatrick, manager at the Aberthaw works, which has an integrated capacity of 0.55Mt/yr, said the plan had been prompted by increased competition in the cement market and a serious downturn in demand for construction products. "Since it was introduced in 2005, we have used 50,000t of MBM which has significantly reduced our consumption of fossil fuels," he said. "Extending the range of sustainable waste-derived fuels we can use offers us a good way to keep a check on our costs which have been escalating."

Keith Stockdale, secretary of Barry and Vale Friends of the Earth, said, "The Environment Agency will have to impose strict conditions on the burning of this potentially hazardous waste."

UK: Cemex has appointed Jesus Gonzalez as the company's new president for its UK operations. He was previously employed by Cemex in Panama, where he acted as president for the company's Central American operations.

Gonzalez has been employed by Cemex since 1998 and replaces Gonzalo Galindo, who has been appointed to the position of regional president, USA East.