Ivory Coast: Intercem has received an order for a ship-unloading project for Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) and has completed a project for Cim Ivoire. Both projects were received from Sea Invest on behalf of the end clients.

The CIMAF project for a cement grinding plant in San Pedro was agreed in February 2018. The order is an expansion of an existing ship unloading system. The contract was agreed by the Vice President of CIMAF in San Pedro, Melik Sefrioui, and Intercem’s General Manager, Olaf Michelswirth. The order includes a 3D scan of the existing system to ensure planning security. Intercem will perform the engineering, the foundation works, the deliveries, the assembly and the commissioning. Completion of the order is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2018.
The order for Cim Ivoire was first received in late 2016. It included the delivery of trough belt conveyors as well as all related components and the transfer tower on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) base: from the piling, the foundation works, the steel construction, the cladding of the building, the roofing of the belt bridges, the necessary filters and chutes to the electrical equipment.

The ship unloading system includes two belts with a length of 100m and a capacity of 1200t/hr. The first belt can be charged with material from a hopper over its entire length. Two towers were built, one with a height of about 8m and one of about 34m of height. A generator situated in the lower part of the transfer tower two assures the emergency power supply.

The ship unloading system is connected to two 50,000t clinker silos and the raw material shed for Cim Ivoire. Thus a truck-free unloading of clinker and raw material will be achieved to suit the new regulations of the port authorities in Abidjan.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s sales and earnings have increased due to a strong market recovery in its domestic market. Its sales revenue rose by 54.8% year-on-year to US$752m in 2017 from US$486m in 2016. Its adjusted earnings before, interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 67.7% to US$194m from US$116m. Its cement and lime sales rose by 18.6% to 6.99Mt from 5.89Mt. The cement producer also benefited from an increased equity share of Paraguay’s Yguazú Cementos during the year.

“2017 was a pivotal year for Loma Negra marked by achieving significant milestones. Key events for the company last year included: volume and sales expansion benefitting from the economic momentum in Argentina, record EBITDA, commenced expansion of the L’Amalí plant and ending the year with the successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) – the largest Argentine IPO in almost 25 years and the largest ever for a cement company,” said Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s Chief Executive Officer.

US: The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that shipments of Ordinary Portland and blended cement rose by 2.4% year-on-year to 95.5Mt in 2017 from 93.3Mt in 2016. Increases of over 5% were reported in Arizona and New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and Washington. However, shipments fell by 14% in Illinois. Imports rose by 5.6% to 11.3Mt. Clinker production increased by 1.4% to 76.8Mt from 75.8Mt. Major importers of cement into the US were Canada with 4.4Mt, Greece with 2.3Mt and China with 2Mt.

Bolivia: Residents near the Potosí cement plant being built by Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL) are querying the project. They say that they never signed the paperwork to transfer land to accommodate the facility, according to the El Potosí newspaper. However, they say they are not opposing the project. They merely want preferential treatment such as compensation for old people that will be affected by the project and agreements for transport and jobs for local people.