1st Global CemTrans Conference
6 - 7 June 2017 - Antwerp, Belgium
By Robert McCaffrey, conference convenor
View the image gallery from the event
The inaugural Global CemTrans Conference and Exhibition on cement and clinker transport and logistics took place in Antwerp at the start of June, attracting delegates from 15 countries to meet to discuss how to optimise product movement ‘from silo to site.’
The conference started with a presentation from Ad Ligthart of Cement Distribution Consultants. Excluding China, total waterborne cement and clinker distribution was around 222Mt in 2015, of which global seaborne exports amounted to 61Mt. The key export region is Asia, with strong exports from China, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The Mediterranean is another globally-important export area. Global seaborne trade in cement and clinker reached 117Mt in 2016 and in addition, another 94Mt was distributed by sea domestically. Inland domestic water transport totalled 21Mt. Of all seaborne transport and cement and clinker in 2016, about 80Mt was transported by bulk carriers (Handysize and larger), 34Mt by coastal cargo vessels and about 97Mt by self-discharging cement carriers. The situation in China is the key determining factor in the global availability of cement and clinker for export, and related FOB pricing. Production in China has reduced in the last three years and Ad suggests that it is now stabilising at around 2300Mt/year. He suggested that cement consumption in China in 2035 will be 1000Mt, requiring the closure of around 100Mt of cement production capacity each year for the next two decades. In any case, China will have a huge surplus, available for export at extraordinarily low prices. In the same manner, Indonesia already has a surplus of 50Mt, Iran will have a surplus of 40Mt in 2025 and Turkey, Vietnam and Pakistan are all notable for adding large amounts of cement production capacity that is well beyond the domestic demand.
Ad Ligthart went on to say that it does not now make sense to build a new integrated cement plant within 200km of a port: imported cement or clinker is a much more cost-effective solution. Clinker is much easier to handle than cement and generally makes up around 50% of the traded tonnage worldwide. Ad Ligthart pointed out that the plant utilisation factor is a critical factor in the profitability of the plant. In an example for a 1Mt/year plant, Ad showed that a production cost of Euro34/t at a utilisation of 60% would fall to a cost of Euro24/t at a utilisation factor of 100%. This means that driving your cement plant at full speed makes economic sense, causing inevitable surpluses that would have to be exported. In terms of pricing dynamics, a ‘price maker’ is a company that has the lowest combination of production, transport and financial cost in its key markets and as such can determine the price in these markets. A ‘price follower’ does not have this advantage and therefore will not start a price war and will follow the pricing of its competitor.
Imports into the US are set to grow from 9.2Mt in 2016, to past 11Mt in 2017, due to the fact that new production capacity is difficult to build in the country, and due to its long coast and extensive waterways system. Large US concrete producers are likely to look to establish their own import operations (or grinding mills). US terminals were originally built for Handysize 40,000t vessels and few are really suitable for Supramaxes, (>50,000t) or Ultramaxes (>60,000t) while almost all were built for only one type of product. Ad suggested that in hindsight the US terminals were designed with low flexibility, and without the possibility to handle both low and high alkali cement and SCMs. In Western Europe there is a healthy growth in construction, which will inevitably lead to an increase in imports. Africa has rapid population growth and strong economic progress but still very low cement consumption per capita - and is the only continent where rapid growth in cement consumption is still possible. This has led to a huge overcapacity in cement production capacity, as well as an explosion of cement and clinker import terminals and grinding plants. There are many different solutions for coastal export plants, coastal grinding plants and cement terminals, depending on the choice as to whether to trade or to just distribute cement and/or clinker, the different requirements for facilities for trade or facilities for distribution and the availability and characteristics of places where ships can berth. The design and size of the ship can be a crucial factor and will potentially control the design of the facilities at either end of the transport chain. However, small modular containerised grinding plants are now widely available, and they can be built in a matter of weeks in virtually any port in the world with relative ease. The Grindmax concept from Humboldt Wedag is essentially a Handymax ship which incorporates a number of ball mills to grind raw materials that also come in by water. Markets and economies keep changing and flexibility needs to be built into every cement and clinker transportation option. Trade is really international and is a demand-driven system, while distribution is generally domestic and regional and is a supply-led system.
Thomas Duve of ZAG International next spoke about global trade in fly ash, slag and other supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). He restated that there is a systemic cement production overcapacity worldwide. There have also been severe dislocations in energy supplies, disruptions in the global coal industry and in the iron and steel industries worldwide, all of which have strategic implications for the cement industry. Some 1200 new coal-fired power stations are being built or are proposed, of which 70% are in India and China, while at the same time shut-downs are accelerating in the US and in Europe. There is not likely to be any increase in supply of granulated blastfurnace slag (GBFS), since the steel industry is now stagnating worldwide. Thomas suggested that SCMs will inevitably be given higher value as supply reduces and demand increases: owners of flyash and GBFS will become more selective about who they supply with their products.
Robert McCaffrey of Global Cement next gave an overview of the nine mega-trends that are likely to impact on the global cement industry in the coming decades, including ageing populations, urbanisation, automation and roboticisation and ever more stringent environmental legislation.
Eva Prunés of Spanish company Vidmar next spoke on the TRS.NET system to manage trucks on the cement plant site. TRS stands for ‘Truck and Rail System,’ and allows for the automation and optimisation of operational flow of vehicles and persons, while avoiding fraud, recording incidents and ensuring traceability. A web-based booking system is used to regulate traffic flow into the plant, with a ‘buffer’ parking zone to allow for unexpected arrivals or delays. A variety of different sensors can be used to track truck movements around the plant, including RFID, bar code readers, automatic number plate readers (ANPR) and even biometrics. The system can be linked with ERP, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and others.
Martin Dalbert of Aumund Foerdertechnik next spoke on post-cooler transport and logistics for clinker and cement. Martin mentioned that Aumund is a semi-turnkey supplier of clinker storage and transport systems for the cement industry, starting with a project for Votorantim in Brazil in 1977. Martin mentioned that Aumund has completed the engineering and construction of a prototype gypsum wallboard reception and recycling facility, which was the first of five that are now on order for various locations in Europe. He also mentioned a low-cost optimised clinker and additive mixing concept that uses a series of Samson feeders and weighfeeders to dose additives into clinker on its way to the mill.
The next presentation was given by Dries Knockaert of wire manufacturer Bekaert, and Marco Taddio of rubber conveyor belt manufacturer SIG, on steelcord belts for cement and clinker transport. The majority of conveyor belts in the cement industry are made of multi-ply non-steel-reinforced material. However, steel-reinforced belts have a number of advantages. These belts use flexible steel net-like ‘fabrics,’ which have high tensile strength, and which are fully covered by rubber to avoid corrosion. The steel carcass belts also have high impact- and cut-resistance. The steel reinforcement required for belts ranging from elevator belts, normal conveyor belts and pipe conveyors is different and must be carefully selected.
From German company Sick AG, Felix Bartknecht spoke about smart material handling and logistics automation in the cement industry. Felix mentioned the very interesting Bulkscan LMS511 non-contact volume flow measurement instrument for materials on conveyor belts, which uses laser pulses to measure the height and profile of materials on the moving belt, and which can also be used for crusher monitoring, as well as raw material, coal and bulk fuel monitoring. Felix described a wide variety of other sensors, including ‘smart’ sensors that incorporate some form of logic function. The company is now working on LiDAR detection of broken cement bags.
The final presentation of the day was given by Bill Gommers of Viper International, on wire rope lubrication. Wire ropes are critical to the operation of a variety of transport systems for cement and clinker, including keyside grabs and ship loaders and unloaders, and must be effectively lubricated and re-lubricated to work at their best. Bill’s company has devised the Viper Mk 2 wire rope lubricator, which fits like a sleeve or collar around the wire rope, incorporating a polyurethane internal seal, and which strips old lubricant from the rope and then applies high pressure lubricant back into the rope, while at the same time cutting the labour requirement by around 90%.
Social evening
Delegates enjoyed a social evening of a Flemish banquet and local beers on board a Belgian steamer on the estuary of the Scheldt which, with a storm and various traffic jams to contend with, was a transport and logistics challenge in itself.
Second day
On the second day of the conference, Marc Brida of Axians spoke about how cement plants can improve their logistics with IT. Marc pointed out that theft reduction, improved health and safety, improved customer relationships and faster truck turnaround times will provide a return on investment within one to three years. Firstly, hauliers can book in to the cement plant via a web portal. Secondly, the trucks are admitted into the plant, with as little interaction with plant staff as possible, using RFID or bar code/QR code scanners controlling truck movements. Thirdly, there is a truck exit automation solution, where delivery documents are automatically printed out for the driver (while simultaneously sending them as a pdf to specified recipients).
Paul Flachskampf of INFORM GmbH continued the theme of truck logistics optimisation. Paul pointed out that a number of topics are ‘entry-level’ stuff: you need to get these right before you can further optimise truck logistics: the payload must be correct, neither overloaded nor underloaded; trucks must be well maintained; drivers must behave correctly - not speeding, driving considerately, driving with regard to fuel efficiency, behaving safely and turning up on-time. Some of these factors can be achieved using telematics, including ‘black boxes’ and GPS. Having achieved these ‘entry level wins,’ strategic and tactical planning, real-time optimisation, effective haulier payment schemes and unified SC design can be undertaken. Paul pointed out that the contracts that companies have with hauliers may not be fit to allow the cement company to optimise its transport logistics (in order to optimise profitability). Simple payment schemes, based on the number of tonnes delivered, may not incentivise hauliers to optimise (or be optimised). In the medium to longer term, more sophisticated and nuanced schemes may allow increased profitability for all involved parties.
Markus Lanz of Ralog Engineering of Switzerland next spoke on supply chain optimisation in the cement industry, as part of ‘Industry 4.0.’ Markus pointed out that the ubiquitous digital networks of the future will transform manufacturing and logistics, bringing ‘just in time’ smart supply chains, ‘shop floor to top floor’ integration, and real-time monitoring of machines, inventories and processes. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” said Markus Lanz. Future supply chains will be instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. Markus detailed an ‘end-to-end’ solution for a cement company, for automated order management, real-time stock management, truck routing, truck loading and optimised dispatch. He looked to the future and forecast a real-time collaborative planning and forecasting system, that will link all parts of logistics and transport - perhaps presided over by an AI. Who knows if drivers will be part of this equation?
The final presentation at the event was given by Ingmar Holst of Claudius Peters Projects GmbH, on a 500t/h pneumatic conveying line project for LafargeHolcim to convey cement over 1.2km to the end of a long jetty in Indonesia. Absolutely no dust emissions were allowed and there was limited space available at the end of the jetty, so that a pneumatic system was favoured. A twin pressure vessel solution was chosen, with few moving parts, low conveying velocity and no need for large motors for the feeding device, while a simple conveying pipe was chosen, compared to a more expensive and complicated air slide pipe. An expansion vessel is used at the jetty to depressurise the material and to separate material from conveying air.
Farewell and conclusions
At the end of the conference a number of prizes were awarded. SICK was judged to have had the best exhibition stand. In third place in the best presentation awards was Thomas Duve for his paper on global trade in SCMs, while in second place was Markus Lanz for his paper on the future of supply chains. The prize for the best presentation went to Ad and Marcia Ligthart of Cement Distribution Consultants, for their paper on global cement trade. Delegates praised the event for its intimate feel and interesting presentations.
What the delegates said:
• I liked the variety of presentations and the ever-capable moderation;
• I had a pleasant two days, thank you;
• Enjoyed the speed-dating;
• The balance between the speakers, the Q&A after presentations and the coffee breaks was excellent;
• I liked the proceedings - a nice tool to make notes next to the slides. Great!
• This meeting has been good for us - thank you for the invitation!
• I really liked the deep technical details of each presentation