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Semen Baturaja's cement sales up by 25% 07 July 2015
Indonesia: According to Reuters, Indonesian state-owned cement producer PT Semen Baturaja Tbk has posted cement sales that exceed 600,000t so far in 2015, up by 25% from the same period of 2014. Several projects kicking off in South Sumatra contributed to the sales, which have reached only 38% of 2015's target of 1.75Mt.
Plymouth quay to be turned into cement depot 06 July 2015
UK: According to the Plymouth Herald, a major new six-silo cement depot is being planned in Corporation Wharf in Cattedown, Plymouth, Devon as part of a bid to bring its historic wharf back into use. It is part of a bid to transport the tens of thousands of tonnes of cement brought in and out of Plymouth every year by boat instead of road. The Victoria Group wants to build a new bulk cement storage and terminal at Corporation Wharf in Cattedown.
India: According to the Hindu Business Line, Sanghi Industries has installed a 1.2Mt/yr capacity grinding mill at its plant in Sanghipuram, Kutch. This increases the plants total capacity to 4.1Mt/yr. Sanghi Industries also plans to install a 15MW waste heat recovery system at the plant.
Abandoned cement ship drifts to Umbergaon beach 06 July 2015
India: According to the Times of India, an abandoned cement ship drifted on to the beach of Fansa, a coastal village in Umbergaon, Valsad.
The MV Coastal Pride was reportedly abandoned 15km away from Umbergaon by the ship's 14 crew members on 24 June 2015 after it developed a problem. The overturned ship drifted to Fansa village's beach after a few days because of strong water currents, according to Valsad Marine police.
The ship was en route from Porbandar to Indira Dock in Mumbai. Following a distress call by the ship's captain, the Indian Navy sent its Sea King helicopter for a search and rescue operation from Mumbai and the Indian Coast Guard send a Chetak helicopter from Daman. The 14 crew members aboard the ship were saved. "A marine police team was deputed to Fansa when we received information about the ship. We are trying to get in touch with the ship's owner," said Prem Veer Singh, superintendent of Valsad police.
India: According to the Economic Times, JSW Cement plans to bring down its cement-making cost by as much as 75% by setting up grinding units closer to markets, in contrast to the traditional model of clinker units placed near the source of raw material.
According to the plan, the new units will use clinker imported from countries that have a surplus, thus allowing JSW Cement to add 1Mt/yr of capacity for about US$28.3m, compared to US$132m required to set up a similar capacity under the traditional model.
JSW Cement plans to establish several such grinding units on the country's east coast in West Bengal and Odisha, taking its cement capacity up to 20Mt/yr by 2020. "Our novel model involves setting up inexpensive grinding facilities closer to the markets rather than building cost-intensive clinker units closer to the raw material reserves," said Parth Jindal, son of group chairman Sajjan Jindal.
According to Anil Kumar Pillai, CEO at JSW Cement, typically 67% of cement capacity investment goes into clinkerisation and 33% goes into grinding. "We are investing 33% in grinding units. Hence, our balance sheet will be far leaner, service cost on interest will be far lower and our profitability ratio will be far better," said Pillai.
"Once our balance sheet gets strengthened with strong earnings profile to support large-scale investments, we will look at backward integration to acquire limestone reserves and set up clinkerising units," said Jindal.