Displaying items by tag: construction

UK: Holcim UK has completed all civil engineering works at its new Tilbury Cement Terminal on the River Thames, marking the transition to structural and mechanical installation.

The three-year project has now progressed beyond excavation, foundations, utilities and site roads. Wright Brothers Industrial Services will lead the next phase, installing materials handling and processing systems. Collinson Construction is installing the storage hall superstructure, while Dome Technology begins work on the dome silo, which will hold up to 30,000t of cement.

Japan: Mitsubishi UBE Cement’s joint project with the city of Kitakyushu to pilot carbon recycled materials in public infrastructure has been selected for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s 2024 grant programme.

Centred around the producer’s Kyushu plant in Kurosaki, Kitakyushu, the project will recycle CO₂ and waste cement from local sources for use in municipal construction. Mitsubishi UBE Cement said it aims to establish a model for resource circulation that can be expanded nationwide.

India: ACC Chair Karan Adani says that he expects the cement industry to benefit from the an anticipated US$2.2tn in new public infrastructure spending between 2025 and 2030.

Press Trust of India News has reported that Adani said "ACC crossed the 100Mt/yr cement capacity milestone in April 2025, propelling us closer to our ambitious 140Mt/yr target by the 2028 financial year." The company’s capacity corresponds to 15% of an all-India installed capacity of 686Mt/yr.

Poland: The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has launched an investigation into Cement Ożarów, Cemex Polska, Dyckerhoff Polska, Góradżdże Cement, Górażdże Beton and Holcim Polska over potential cement cartelisation. The office has not stated the exact triggers of such an investigation at this time.

ISB News has reported that UOKiK previously discovered an 11-year-long conspiracy to divide the market and fix prices between seven companies in 2009.

UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny said "The return of a cartel would be particularly outrageous, considering that cement is one of the basic construction materials, necessary for the development of housing, road infrastructure and the entire economy."

If found to have been party to any agreement restricting competition, companies can expect penalties as high as 10% of turnover.

Japan: Domestic cement sales in April 2025 fell by 5% year-on-year to 2.6Mt, according to the Japan Cement Association. This marked the 32nd consecutive monthly decline, attributed to reduced construction hours under overtime restrictions. The Tohoku and Chugoku regions recorded the steepest falls, with labour shortages and rising construction costs driving the decline in Chugoku. Domestic demand has been in decline for six consecutive years, and continues to decline due to a combination of factors including the chronic labour shortage at construction sites, rising construction costs and the longer construction period due to the introduction of a full two-day weekend system at construction sites in recent years.

Jordan: Exports to Syria reached record levels on 2 June 2025, with 1700 trucks crossing the Jaber border, more than double the usual daily average, according to Amman Chamber of Commerce president Khalil Haj Tawfiq.

Haj Tawfiq said “Cement was the primary export, marking a significant boost in construction-related trade,” adding that “This level of export activity is unprecedented.”

Cement reportedly accounted for more than 10,654 truckloads. Haj Tawfiq attributed the rise in exports to Syria to increased trade activity ahead of Eid Al Adha and renewed economic cooperation between the two countries, particularly around reconstruction efforts.

UK: Medcem, a subsidiary of Turkish conglomerate Eren Holding, and UK-based Peel Ports Group will begin construction of a new deep-water cement terminal at the former P&O site at Gladstone Dock, Liverpool. Construction is scheduled to start at the end of May 2025, according to Construction Management magazine.

The €41m project’s first phase will include four silos with a combined capacity of 45,000t for cement and supplementary cementitious materials. The 2.3-hectare site allows for future expansion and increased capacity in subsequent phases. Completion is expected by mid-2026.

Medcem business development and investments director Enver Celikbas said “This new terminal significantly strengthens our presence in the UK market, consolidating our position as the leading provider of low-carbon cement and cementitious materials in Europe. The logistical advantages of Liverpool allow us to enhance our ability to accommodate large vessels and product handling.”

Bangladesh: Chhatak Cement’s plant in Sunamganj remains idle despite construction completing in March 2023, with production suspended due to unresolved gas and limestone supply issues, according to the Prothom Alo newspaper. The plant project began in 2016. New details confirm that the Bangladesh government has approved subcontracting of a cross-border ropeway to import limestone from India. Local firm Komorah Limestone Mining Company (KLMC), which already supplies limestone to Chhatak Cement, is in talks regarding the role. China-based contractor for the project, Nanjing Sea-Hope Cement Engineering, has agreed ‘in principle’ to this handover as of 18 March 2025, according to Chhatak Cement managing director Abdur Rahman.

Project officials stated that, once the new plant begins operations, it will be capable of producing 1500t/day of clinker and 500t/day of cement, triple its previous capacity. Reporters conducted a site visit on 8 April 2025, observing that a jetty had been constructed on the riverbank to unload clinker from the plant for grinding elsewhere. A conveyor system has been set up to move cement bags directly from the plant to transport, and a new conveyor belt has also been installed alongside the existing belt.

Iraq: Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has launched six industrial projects worth US$1.17bn in Muthanna province, including five cement plants. According to Iraqi News, Al-Sudani initiated commercial operations at the 6000t/day Najmat Al-Samawa Cement Plant 2, and launched construction of the Al-Arabi, Khairat Al-Muthanna and Al-Ittihad plants, each with a capacity of 6000t/day. The 6600t/day Al-Samawa cement plant has also commenced construction.

Al-Sudani said that the main objective of the current projects is to ‘secure the needs of the local market’ and stop imports. The government is reportedly constructing residential complexes in Baghdad and other provinces, where there are more than a million housing units. 200,000 housing units are also being built in seven large residential communities.

Kenya: Cement sales fell by 8% year-on-year to 8.47Mt in 2024, the sharpest annual decline in over two decades, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The fall reflects budgetary cuts on public infrastructure projects and a broader slowdown in construction activity, which contracted by 3% in the third quarter of 2024, following a 2% drop in the second quarter.

KNBS said in its report “The contraction was reflected by trends in key industry indicators. For instance, cement consumption declined by 10% to 2.2Mt in the third quarter of 2024, from 2.4Mt in the same quarter of 2023.”

According to the Nation newspaper, the slowdown follows delays in the government’s payments to contractors and the stalling of infrastructure projects. The government indicated that most of the stalled projects will begin to receive funding in the next few days and weeks.