Displaying items by tag: US
Mind the gap: cement news shortcuts
29 April 2015Striking news from Libya this week with the announcement that an investor with international backing wants to buy the majority stake in the Libyan Cement Company.
Libya holdings owner Ahmed Ben Halim is in the process of buying out the Austrian Group Asamer that originally bought a majority share for US$145m back in 2008. Most of the remaining share was owned by the Economic and Social Development Fund. Taking over the company now seems bold from a European perspective or Ahmed Ben Halim got a very good price. No financial information regarding the deal has been made public.
Libya has remained politically unstable since the civil war in 2011. According to the Libyan Herald, following the war a strike at the Libyan Cement Company's plants for lost wages stopped production. Since then two of the three cement plants the company runs in east Libya near Benghazi have remained shut due to their proximity to fighting with the Ansar Al-Sharia militia. Before the civil war in 2011 the Libyan Cement Company had a combined cement production capacity of 6Mt/yr almost half the USGS estimated production for the entire country in that year.
The Libyan Cement Company's plants are all located in the east of the country under the nominal control of the Council of Deputies based in Tobruk. Its two plants in Benghazi have remained shut due to their proximity to fighting with the Ansar Al-Sharia militia. A third plant near Derna has also had security issues. Halim told the Financial Times that he was not 'crazy' to be investing at this time. "We have a long-term strategic plan" he said, "that Libya's going to rebuild its infrastructure. And a key element of this is cement." If he can hold out until the rebuilding starts then he may just be right.
Meanwhile across the border in Egypt, Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy announced this week that cement prices had remained 'stable' for the fifth month in row. Some commentators placed improved energy supply security at the heart of this situation allowing producers to build up inventory. However, given the situation in Libya, it is worth considering what will happen once Libyan demand for cement does pick up both in competition for energy supplies like coal and a keener export market.
Finally, our editorial director Dr Robert McCaffrey was at the IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference in Toronto, Canada this week. Here's his snapshot of PCA economist Ed Sullivan's forecast for future US cement supply and demand.
Ed Sullivan's forecast for future US cement supply and demand, at IEEE in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/RUoT7uHGtg
— Robert McCaffrey (@DrRobMcCaffrey) April 28, 2015
The UK London Underground has 'mind the gap' as its well-known warning phrase to prevent passengers falling between the platform and the trains when boarding. The favourable supply gap Ed Sullivan is talking about in US will be one cement producers will definitely not want to miss.
US: Essroc Italcementi Group has signed an agreement with Holcim to purchase its slag cement grinding facility in Camden, New Jeresy. As part of the transaction, Essroc will also obtain Holcim's cement terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. The acquisition will finalise when the pending Holcim and Lafarge merger completes later in 2015.
"The acquisition of the Camden slag grinding facility reiterates Essroc's commitment to the northeast market," said Francesco Carantani, Essroc's president and chief executive officer. "With the focus on sustainability and durability, there is a projected growth in the demand and usage of slag cement."
The Camden facility can produce upwards of 700,000t/yr of slag cement. Essroc currently produces slag cement at its Picton, Ontario, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, cement plants and at its slag grinding facility in Middlebranch, Ohio. With the addition of Camden, Essroc has a combined annual production capacity in excess of 1Mt/yr. Holcim's staff in Camden and Everett will join Essroc once the transaction completes.
US: Lafarge and Holcim have announced further details on the package of assets that they propose to divest in the US as part of their planned merger to create LafargeHolcim. The divestments include:
- Lafarge's 1.1Mt/yr Davenport cement plant in Iowa and seven terminals along the Mississippi River. The units will be sold to Summit Materials for US$450m in cash plus Summit's Bettendorf, Iowa cement terminal;
- Holcim terminals in Michigan and Illinois;
- Holcim Skyway 600,000t/yr slag grinding station in Illinois;
- Holcim Camden 700,000t/yr slag grinding station in New Jersey, along with a terminal in Massachusetts.
The proposed divestments have been negotiated with the staff of the Federal Trade Commission and remain subject to review and approval by the commission. The divestments will be completed subject to acceptance by the commission and to the closing of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge.
McInnis Cement warehouse for New York
17 April 2015US/Candada: Montreal-based McInnis Cement plans to build a US$40m distribution warehouse along the East River in the Bronx, New York, in the hopes of reducing truck traffic in the borough as well as developing its waterfront, according to local media.
McInnis Cement will transport cement down the river from Quebec in 35,000t loads. McInnis will still use trucks to deliver cement from the warehouse to customers, but the new facility should decrease the trucking situation in the borough. "We've done a pretty thorough analysis of the trucking effect in the local community and, in general, we believe that trucking will go down," said Jim Braselton, senior vice president of sales, marketing and logistics at McInnis Cement.
As part of the project, McInnis Cement plans to build a pedestrian pathway on the waterfront. It aims to break ground on the project by the end of the summer of 2015, with completion by the end of 2016.
Essroc cement plant fire in Nazareth deemed accidental
13 April 2015US: A series of scattered fires that erupted on 11 April 2015 at Essroc Cement in Nazareth, Pennsylvania have been deemed accidental by the Vigilance Hose Co.
The initial fire began shortly after 16:00 on an underground conveyor belt that transports stone from Essroc's plant II to plant I in Nazareth, said fire chief Danny Keenhold. He said an unidentified malfunction on the belt caused the fire, which began underground. The fire then ignited a separate above-ground portion of the conveyor belt. It took firefighters from seven different agencies about two hours to extinguish the fire from both ends.
There were no reported injuries to Essroc crews or firefighters. The conveyor belt will now need to be repaired. Keenhold said that in the interim trucks will transport stone between the plants.
US: FCT International, which has operations in Australia, the US, Europe, the Middle East and now Canada, has appointed Adriano Greco as its new US-based sales director. Greco has previously acted as managing director of Greco and as sales director for Gebr. Pfeiffer.
Cementos Argos records ‘historic results’ in 2014
26 March 2015Colombia/US: Cementos Argos recorded 'historic' results in terms of both income and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2014. Income grew to US$2.9m, a year-on-year rise of 17%, while EBITDA hit US$534m, a rise of 8%. The company reported record cement sales of 12.5Mt. Its net profit went up by 59%.
The company's improved performance can, in large part, be attributed to Cementos Argos' enlarged footprint in the United States, where it increased cement production capacity by 107% year-on-year in 2014. The company is now the second-largest cement produer in the southeastern US and the country's second-largest concrete producer. Its strong performance is expected to continue, with the Portland Cement Association (PCA) anticipating year-on-year cement consumption growth of 12% in 2015.
"We see the next decade as the period in which Cementos Argos will see even greater rewards from the largest investments ever made by a Colombian company in the United States, which, jointly, reached a value of more than US$2.2bn," said Jorge Mario Velásquez, CEO of Cementos Argos. "These investments were consistent with our coherent strategy that was carried out with a great degree of discipline and at an opportune moment by taking advantage of a favourable exchange rate."
The company has also consolidated its presence in Central America and the Caribbean, after acquiring new assets in French Guiana for Euro50m and successfully integrating its operations in Honduras. As this is a region that receives a lot of remittances with currencies that are mostly tied to the US Dollar and the drop in oil prices further favours its economies, the countries in the region will also benefit from the upward trend of the North American economy.
Additionally, in Colombia, the company kept its leading position in a dynamic market driven by housing and infrastructure construction. Cementos Argos is participating in more than 70% of the infrastructure projects being carried out within the country and in 60% percent of the free homes programme being implemented by its national government.
HeidelbergCement completes sale of North American and UK building products business to Lone Star
13 March 2015US/UK: On 13 March 2015, HeidelbergCement completed the sale of its North American (excluding Western Canada) and UK building products business, Hanson Building Products, to Lone Star. The sale was originally announced on 24 December 2014. HeidelbergCement will receive more than Euro1.2bn, in addition to up to Euro95m payable in 2016, depending on business performance.
Ash Grove Cement helps March for Meals
12 March 2015US: Ash Grove Cement Company has helped Meals-on-Wheels celebrate March for Meals, a national campaign to end hunger in the elderly population, by sponsoring all breakfasts and lunches delivered to clients in Midlothian on 9 March 2015. During the month-long campaign, meal programmes throughout the nation will work within their communities to raise much-needed funds and recruit volunteers.
St Marys to reopen Dixon cement plant in Spring 2015
12 March 2015US: St. Marys Cement plans to reopen its Dixon, Illinois plant in the spring of 2015. Citing a downturn in the economy, the St Marys Cement closed the plant in December 2008. About 90 jobs were lost.
At the time, the US Enviornmental Protection Agency (EPA) had fined St Marys and co-owner St Barbara Cement US$800,000 for violations of the federal Clean Air Act. In addition, the settlement with the government called for the companies to spend nearly US$2m to upgrade pollution control on three of its four kilns. The fourth kiln had to be replaced or shut down.
The settlement was the first completed as a result of an EPA crackdown on cement plants. The EPA said that the companies had illegally modified the kilns at the Dixon plant in a manner that increased SO2 and NOx emissions. In addition to failing to install the proper pollution-control equipment, the companies were cited for failing to get the proper permit before making modifications.
Mayor Jim Burke said that representatives from St Marys approached him nearly a year ago about the possibility of restarting operations. A small maintenance crew has been working at the plant for a while to prepare for a reopening. St Marys said that the decision was based on increased demand due to the improving economy. St Marys also plans to invest US$130m in its Charlevoix, Michigan, plant to increase capacity there.
"St Marys Cement is pleased to announce that after a seven-year downturn in the economy, we will be reopening our cement plant in Dixon, Illinois," said spokesman Steve Gallagher. Gallagher provided a spring timeline for the reopening process. He also said that all regulatory issues with the EPA had been addressed. "We've been working since January 2015 with a small crew performing the necessary routine maintenance," said Gallagher. "By the end of March 2015, we will be completely staffed, bringing around 60 jobs back to Dixon. The plant will resume operation shortly thereafter with all required environmental permits in place."