Displaying items by tag: McInnis Cement
Quebec state government plans to rebuild railway line offer boost to McInnis Cement distribution
09 May 2017Canada: Plans by the state government of Quebec to rebuild the Gaspésie railway between Matapédia and Gaspé will allow McInnis Cement to increase its distribution of cement by rail significantly. Once the line has been restored the cement producer says the number of wagons it uses could rise to 2000/yr from 300/yr.
”The flexibility of the railway combined with our maritime distribution mode allows us to improve our logistics chain and reach certain markets more efficiently, in all seasons,” said McInnis Cement chief executive officer Herve Mallet.
In December 2016 McInnis Cement confirmed its use of the rail for a volume of approximately 28,000t/yr over five years, through a transshipment facility in New Richmond, fed by truck from Port-Daniel–Gascons. Railway repairs are expected to result in the transport of at least 200,000t/yr of cement by rail.
McInnis Cement starts building terminal in New York
21 April 2017US: Canada’s McInnis Cement has started building a terminal in the South Bronx region of New York. The 6930m2 warehouse will be able to store 43,000t of cement and load up to 80 trucks/day. Cement will be delivered to the site from McInnis’ plant in Port-Daniel, Gascons, Quebec. A barge-mounted ship unloader travelling between New York and Providence will be used to pneumatically transfer the cement into the warehouse.
Additional features to the terminal include a 24-hour operations schedule, rooftop solar panels and a fully enclosed truck load out system will mitigate dust. The site was chosen due to its access to the New York City Harbour. The area is also expected to see an investment of over US$45bn towards infrastructure projects and another US$6bn towards repairs following Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“We are very excited to being one step closer to delivering cement to our customers in this area and along the east coast,” said McInnis Cement chief executive officer, Herve Mallet. “Once complete, the facility will set a new standard for development in the New York City Harbour, placing in harmony an industrial operation, with a natural wildlife habitat and waterfront access for citizens of the South Bronx.”
McInnis Cement to use Gaspesian Rail for distribution of cement
03 January 2017Canada: McInnis Cement has signed an agreement with the Gaspé railway corporation (SCFG) to distribute cement from New Richmond, Quebec to various Canadian and US markets. The agreement covers the transportation of 140,000t of cement over a five-year period.
“The use of rail combined with the efficiency of maritime transport provides McInnis the flexibility and competitiveness needed for the distribution of cement that will be produced by the company commencing in the Spring of 2017,” said McInnis Cement chief executive officer, Hervé Mallet. He added that the company might increase its volumes when conditions permit.
The cement will be loaded onto trucks at the plant site in Port-Daniel–Gascons, transported to New Richmond, and then trans-shipped onto tenders through a weight bin to be installed by SCFG. The first shipments are expected to start a few weeks after the plant becomes operational.
Hervé Mallet appointed head of McInnis Cement
30 November 2016Canada: McInnis Cement has appointed Hervé Mallet as its president and chief executive officer. Other new appointments include the assignment of Gaétan Vézina as Vice-President, Cement and Sustainable Development and Alexandre Rail as Vice-President, Operations – Port-Daniel–Gascons.
Previously Mallet was the Executive Vice-President – North America for Dynacast. He is a graduate of the University of Wolverhampton and Brunel University in the UK.
McInnis Cement plant reported 75% complete
02 November 2016Canada: McInnis Cement has completed nearly 75% of the construction phase of the 2.5Mt/yr plant it is building at Port-Daniel-Gascons in Quebec. It also announced that it has closed the financing for the project.
“With the significant turnaround of operations and approximately US$209m in new financing, everything is in place to complete the project on schedule,” said Christian Dubé, Executive Vice-President of Québec at la Caisse, the pension fund manager that took control of the project in August 2016. The first cement deliveries from the plant are scheduled for the spring of 2017.
McInnis Cement began the operating phase in October 2016, with tests on the crushing line and the conveyers used to transport limestone extracted from the quarry to the warehouse. The company expects to receive its first ship at its marine terminal in early November 2016.
By the end of 2016, the company expects to finalise and begin operations of the crushing unit, receive several ships transporting raw materials in its marine terminal and conduct the first operational checks for the grinding of raw materials. Distribution terminals at Sainte-Catherine and Providence are also under construction and other sites under development will soon be added to the company’s distribution network.
McInnis Cement starts building Sainte-Catherine Terminal
08 September 2016Canada: McInnis Cement has started construction work at its Sainte-Catherine Terminal. The unit will be built along the Boulevard Hébert over an area of two acres and will host two silos erected near the existing wharf. Approximately 25 ships per year should make stops at the terminal. Construction will continue until early 2017 at the site and the Sainte-Catherine Terminal is scheduled to be fully operational by spring 2017.
“While the cement plant is a few months away from being fully operational, we are taking the final steps for this important project to take shape and become the expected commercial success,” said the Director of Canadian Sales at McInnis Cement, Francis Forlini.
The cement transiting in Sainte-Catherine is intended to serve markets in New England, in addition to replacing imports in Quebec and Ontario. To feed its other markets, McInnis plans to build other terminals on the east coast of North America, including recent construction work in Providence, Rhode Island.
Should McInnis Cement choose a new name?
17 August 2016The McInnis Cement plant at Port-Daniel-Gascons in Quebec, Canada must be the most famous cement plant that hasn’t been built yet. Every single step of the project’s list has seemed dogged with infamy. Public money it seems comes with public scrutiny. This week, one of the principal investors took control of the plant following allegations of massive budget overruns and the disappearance of the company’s president.
To start with the money, the plant was originally budgeted at US$1bn for a 2.2Mt/yr facility. This has always seemed like an inflated figure given that the general cost of a new or greenfield cement plant is up to US$200/t. The original price tag for McInnis is double this figure. Throw in the need for infrastructure at the site and the requirement of a marine terminal and the cost starts to become a little more realistic with government backing. The importance of the sea links can’t be under stressed given that the plant is targeted at the US market. No port: no cement plant.
This then leads to the quagmire of criticism the project has found itself stuck within. American cement producers took exception to a foreign government-backed plant trying to eat their lunch so they went legal. When the government-subsidised project bypassed the normal environmental clearances Lafarge Canada backed a challenge in 2013. Then in 2014 the provincial opposition in Quebec attacked the local government’s financial involvement in the project describing it as a ‘sinkhole’ in return for a minority stake.
Once these hurdles were overcome, work on building the plant began until the Globe and Mail newspaper revealed in late June 2016 that the project was ‘massively’ over-budget by up to US$350m and that the Quebec government was not prepared to provide any more money. The budget over-run alone is enough to build a cement plant in a more conventional location! Six weeks later and the project has most likely had its chief executive fired and one of the investors has stepped in to run things.
So, some combination of the legal fees, the wrangling over the plant’s unique environmental clearance, the difficulties of the underdeveloped location and potential mismanagement by the company itself have led to the additional costs. This in turn has led to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a pension fund firm, taking charge. It, like the previous management, also has no experience in building cement plants. Although it clearly knows how to calm investors. The first thing it did after announcing the new financing was to reassure everybody on the plant’s potential. Best not to consider at this stage what happens if the US bans Canadian cement.
McInnis Cement could be compared to other provincial industrial follies such as the closed Gaspésia paper mill in Quebec that also received over US$350m of government money. Yet if there is a project one might compare it to it is London’s Millennium Dome. Conceived as a national exhibition space to celebrate the start of the new millennium in 2000 the UK government of the time backed the project to much derision from the press as the costs spiralled and the visitors stayed away. However, today the venue has become a popular music and events venue. Flop or triumph: all those investors of McInnis Cement must be wondering what their fate will be. If nothing else perhaps renaming the plant once the dust settles (in an environmentally approved way) might be a good idea. Today, the Millennium dome is known as the 02.
Canadian investor takes charge at McInnis Cement
12 August 2016Canada: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a pension and insurance fund manager, has taken control of the McInnis Cement plant currently being built on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec. The US$850m project was facing ‘significant’ cost overruns and the CDPQ stepped in to protect its investment. It has agreed to invest an additional US$96.5m into the project with a US$96.5m debenture using funds managed by BlackRock Alternative Investors. The CDPQ has said that the US$193m of additional investment will be enough to complete the project.
“We believe that this project has high-quality fundamentals. For this reason, la Caisse has entered into a change-of-control agreement with Beaudier. With the new executive team in place and the new capital structure we are announcing today, McInnis Cement will be able to capitalise on attractive market opportunities and generate returns for la Caisse’s clients,” said Christian Dubé, Executive Vice-President, Québec, at the CDPQ.
McInnis Cement announced a change in its management on 2 August 2016 including recruitment for a new CEO.
Canada: McInnis Cement has commissioned NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers to supply it with a 15,000t deadweight cement carrier ship using a cement unloading system delivered by Van Aalst Marine & Offshore. The self-discharging dry bulk cement carrier will be time chartered by McInnis Cement under a long-term agreement. The ship, which was built in 2011, is currently undergoing conversion in China to a cement carrier by its owner NovaAlgoma. The conversion will include the installation of the cement unloading system and a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber system capable of operating in both fresh and salt waters. The ship is scheduled for delivery in early 2017.
“We are pleased to establish this new relationship with NovaAlgoma and Van Aalst that will allow us to take advantage of their cutting edge technology, attention to ecological details and their long-term marine transportation and cargo handling expertise,” said McInnis Cement Vice President Logistics and Distribution, Mark Newhart. The ship will be registered in Canada and use Canadian crew.
“The McInnis project will be a showcase of how the Van Aalst signature vacuum – pressure technology in cement carriers will result into high performance, low emissions and an unsurpassed reliability. The productive and professional partnership approach between McInnis, NovaAlgoma and ourselves has proven to be very successful in achieving and exceeding the requirements of the project,” said Wijnand van Aalst, CEO of Van Aalst Group.
The scrubber system will enable the ship to be fully compliant with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marpol Annex VI Sulphur Oxide (SOx) regulations, regardless of the fuel being used within the North American ECA (emissions control area) which includes Canadian and US coastal waters and the Great Lakes.
The time charter agreement for the ship was brokered by Barry Rogliano Salles, a diversified global shipping services group offering a range of maritime activities. The company’s core business is ship brokering and has been active for over 150 years, operating 20 offices worldwide.
Christian Gagnon leaves McInnis Cement
03 August 2016Canada: Christian Gagnon, the president and chief executive officer of McInnis Cement, has left the company. The board of directors announced the departure and said that the cement producer is currently recruiting his replacement. A new executive committee has been put in place to take over the management of the company until the vacancy has been filled. It is composed of the following members: Louis Laporte, Chief of Operations; Ronald Bougie, Executive Vice-President, Engineering, Construction and Operations; and Marc Baillargeon, Management Advisor acting on behalf of la Caisse.
In other changes to the company’s executive team, Ronald Bougie has been appointed with immediate effect as the Executive Vice-President, Engineering, Construction and Operations. Bougie has experience in the construction of large industrial projects including the Stornoway site, a project in which Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec invested. Until a new president and chief executive officer is appointed, Bougie will report directly to McInnis Cement’s Executive Committee. Bougie will have direct access to the Board of Directors to provide progress reports. The board will closely monitor the final stages of the site’s construction.