Global Cement News
Search Cement News
US: Carolinas Cement Company, a Titan America subsidiary, has announced that it plans to construct a cement packaging facility. The facility would be located at an existing storage and handling terminal in Castle Hayne, New Hanover County, North Carolina.
The terminal at Castle Hayne currently stores and delivers cement produced at the Roanoke cement plant that it receives via rail. The facility will enable the plant to load the cement in bags, advancing handling, storage and distribution efficiency. The project needs US$5m investment. Carolinas Cement Company has applied for a building permit from New Hanover County.
Saudi Arabia/Finland: Wärtsilä has received an order to supply a turnkey power plant for the Umm Al-Qura Cement Company. The 47MW captive power plant will be located close to Taif city. The equipment will be delivered by February 2015 and the project will enter commercial operation by October 2015.
The power plant consists of five 20-cylinder Wärtsilä 32TS engines, a new two-stage turbocharged version of the Wärtsilä 32 series. This new engine is designed to operate efficiently in high temperate and altitude conditions such as a location of this project with temperatures up to 50°C and an altitude above 1000m. After completion of this project, Wärtsilä will have supplied more than 1600MW of installed power plant capacity in Saudi Arabia.
HeidelbergCement to sell building products business 18 June 2014
Germany: HeidelbergCement intends to sell its building products business and has already contacted several banks about the deal. The division is expected to be sold for Euro1.1 – 1.5bn, according to the Financial Times. CEO Bernd Scheifele has been reportedly planning on conducting the sale for a long period. In the 2013 financial year the company's building products business saw its revenue fall by a tenth to Euro1.1bn.
Vietnam: Semen Indonesia plans to invest up to US$300m towards building a cement plant in Vietnam in the next five years as part of its business expansion in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian state-run cement producer intends for its subsidiary Thang Long Cement to build a 1.5Mt/yr cement plant, according to General Director Dwi Soetjipto. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2015 with a operation due to start in 2018.
Thang Long Cement currently holds a cement production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr and the new plant is intended to meet the increasing demand for cement in Vietnam and other Asian countries, including Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Semen Indonesia holds a 70% stake in Thang Long Cement. It has set a target of becoming one of the leading cement producers in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam will not face a shortage of cement in either the short or long term as the supply is estimated at 75 - 76Mt/yr in 2015 while demand in 2014 is estimated at 65 – 67Mt/yr, according to the Ministry of Construction. The local cement industry had around 2.59Mt of unsold products, mainly clinker, at the end of April 2014.
Sri Lanka: Holcim Lanka is spending US$22m towards upgrading its cement grinding plant in Ruhunu, Galle. The investment will increase the plant's cement grinding capacity from 0.6Mt/yr to 1Mt/yr. The upgrade will also increase capacity on a Geocycle waste shredding line, building up the clinker warehouse and process efficiency improvement to a sludge drying facility.
"We also intend to make considerable improvements to our distribution by enhancing our logistics," said Holcim Group CEO Bernard Fontana during his first visit to Sri Lanka. Holcim will be concentrating on increasing their production from both their facilities in Puttalam and Ruhunu in the future.
"In our 18 years of existence in Sri Lanka, we have tripled our cement manufacturing capacity to reach 2.3Mt/yr," said Philippe Richart, CEO, Holcim Lanka. Holcim Lanka sold approximately 1.5Mt of cement in 2013 and generated annual revenues of US$154m in 2013.