Displaying items by tag: Terminal

CalPortland completed its acquisition of the Redding cement plant from Martin Marietta this week. As previously announced the transaction involved the integrated cement plant in northern California, related cement terminals and 14 ready mixed concrete (RMC) plants also in the state. However, CalPortland’s parent company Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement revealed this time round that it is considering buying the Tehachapi cement plant from Martin Marietta too. It says it has some sort of preferential purchase agreement in place, although a final decision is yet to be made.

If CalPortland and Taiheiyo Cement do end up buying the Tehachapi plant as well as Redding then it will mark a fairly quick turnaround of owners. HeidelbergCement subsidiary Lehigh Hanson announced that it was selling up assets in its US West region to Martin Marietta for US$2.3bn in May 2021. The deal was completed by October 2021. Then, CalPortland said it was buying the Redding plant in March 2022. From an outside perspective it was not clear what Martin Marietta might have had planned for its new assets. Over three quarters of Martin Marietta’s revenue in 2021 came from its Aggregates and RMC products. However, it is also a prominent regional US cement producer with two plants in Texas and two plants in California, along with associated terminals. So, building up its cement business in California didn’t seem unfeasible. Now, as can be seen, it is likely to be sticking to its primary focus of aggregates and RMC. It is also worth noting that California has some of the stricter CO₂ reduction policies in the US with a 40% reduction target for 2030 (compared to 1990 levels) and a local emissions trading scheme that started in 2013.

Looking at the local cement production base in California, the latest development with the former Lehigh Hanson plants shows the changing situation since the subsidiary of HeidelbergCement left the region. Beforehand, Cemex, Lehigh Hanson and CalPortland each had a similar clinker production capacity. Then, Martin Marietta took the lead and now CalPortland looks set to become the frontrunner if it buys Tehachapi. With the Redding deal completed it now operates three integrated cement plants in California and one in Arizona. Alongside this it runs 15 terminals in Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington – and – two terminals in Alberta and British Colombia in Canada. The Redding plant is also a distinctive addition to its portfolio as it is further north than the other clinker units.

United States Geological Survey (USGS) data shows that cement shipments to California grew by 5% from 10.05Mt in 2019 to 10.57Mt in 2021. So far in 2022, shipments to the state rose by 3.4% year-on-year to 3.56Mt for January to April 2022 compared to 3.44Mt in the same period in 2021. However, clinker production fell by 5% to 8.94Mt in 2021 from 9.45Mt in 2019. This trend seems to have continued into 2022 with a 9% fall to 2.54Mt for January to April 2022 compared to 2.81Mt in the same period in 2021. Despite this, California remained the second largest OPC and blended cement producer in the US in April 2022. In its Western US Regional Outlook in May 2022, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) forecast that the Pacific region of the US (including California) will experience flat growth in cement consumption in 2023 due to a slowdown in residential consumption. However, consumption is then expected to bounce back sharply in 2024 as the effects of the infrastructure bill take effect.

This suggests that CalPortland has picked an uncertain time to start buying cement plants in California. Yet only last year, in 2021, Cemex began restarting production at a previously mothballed cement plant in Mexico to supply the south-west US. Alongside all of this, environmental regulations are tightening. However, the key difference between Martin Marietta and CalPortland is that the latter is owned by Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement, which is more cement-focused than the aggregate and concrete oriented Martin Marietta. No doubt Taiheiyo Cement’s intention to become more international also played a part in its decision making. If CalPortland does decide to buy Tehachapi then this may give observers an idea of how much further its ambitions go.

US: Sweden-based Bruks Siwertell has commissioned a Siwertell 490 F-type ship unloader at Colonial Group’s Georgia Kaolin Terminals in Savannah, Georgia. The unloader has a rated cement handling capacity of 800t/hr, discharging vessels of up to 55,000dwt.

New Zealand: Golden Bay is spending US$6m on an upgrade to its Wellington cement terminal. The project will increased storage capacity, reconfigure the site for better traffic management, add new office facilities and upgrade ship discharge lines to reduce load times. Greater automation is also intended, as well as new branding for the site.

Nick Traber, Fletcher Building’s chief executive for concrete said, “Our Golden Bay Terminal has served Wellington well for many decades and has contributed to some of the region’s biggest infrastructure projects along with countless houses, driveways and other developments. The upgrade is a key part of our strategy to remove bottlenecks in our operations to drive growth and reduce costs, as well as increase the resilience of our supply chain using all modes of transport. It’s a demonstration of our commitment to local manufacturing as New Zealand's only and lowest carbon cement producer.”

Colombia: Cementos Argos exported 297,000 of cement in the first quarter of 2022, up by 32% year-on-year from first-quarter 2021 levels. The producer said that it achieved the increase thanks to the commissioning of its new 3.5Mt/yr Cartagena terminal in February 2022, which tripled its export capacity. The company says that its export network will now have the capacity to export 1.3Mt of cement in 2022.

Bolivia: Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (FANCESA) has announced the planned closure of its Eastern Regional Office (ORO) sales agency in Sucre, Chuquisaca Department. The Correo del Sur newspaper has reported that the agency records 30 – 40% of the level of sales of its other agencies. It operating costs are US$1.57 – 1.75m. 17 people currently work at the ORO Agency. FANCESA acknowledged that it may face labour-related ‘internal problems’ in carrying out the closure.

India: Bharathi Cement plans to build a US$17m automated terminal and packaging plant at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. United News of India has reported that the facility will package the company’s bagged and bulk cement and supply the South West Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets.

On 23 April 2022, the subsidiary of France-based Vicat despatched its first rake of cement aboard custom-built tank and box container cars to Coimbatore from its Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, cement plant. Vicat’s India CEO Anoop Kumar Saxena said that the first-of-its method of bulk cement transportation will reduce the company’s logistics costs and carbon emission and increase the service level for customers.

US: Titan America plans to spend around US$37m towards expanding its Norfolk terminal in Chesapeake, Virginia. The plans at the terminal, run by subsidiary Roanoke Cement Company, include building a 70,000t dome, enlarging truck and railway capacity and enabling the site to import and distribute raw materials such as fly ash, slag and aggregates. At present the unit has a bulk storage capacity of 35,000t. Titan says that the upgrade will enable it to meet growing demand for its products in the Mid-Atlantic region. The project also follows a similar investment in a 70,000t dome currently under construction at Titan's import terminal in Tampa, Florida.

"The major expansion and modernisation of these two marine terminals is another important step toward meeting fast-growing demand for our products and services in critical infrastructure, commercial and residential projects in our communities," said Bill Zarkalis, president and chief executive officer, Titan America.

The dome and associated expansion projects are scheduled for completion in 2023.

Panama: Cemex exported 3000t of bagged Ordinary Portland Cement to Jamaica from the Bahía Las Minas Grain Terminal in Colón. Data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries shows that the company started exporting cement in January 2021 and recorded sales of over US$17m in 2021. In the first two months of 2022 Panama exported OPC to countries including Jamaica, the Bahamas, Guyana, Bonaire, Cuba and Curaçao.

US: Titan America’s Essex cement distribution facility at the Port of Newark, New Jersey, has made its first dispatches of Type IL Portland limestone cement (PLC) to New Jersey and the New York Metropolitan Area. The producer said that the Essex terminal is due to complete its transition to 100% reduced-CO₂ cement dispatches in 2022. Titan America says that it is the leading supplier of Type IL PLC on the US domestic market.

Sales Manager Joe Tedesco said “We see an increase in demand as infrastructure money is budgeted by transportation agencies requiring construction with the use of lower-carbon cement.”

Nigeria: Dangote Cement’s revenue grew by 33.8% year-on-year to US$3.33bn in 2021 from US$2.49bn in 2020. Its sales volumes rose by 13.8% to 29.3Mt from 25.7Mt driven by a strong domestic market, although international volume growth was strong. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 43.2% to US$1.65bn from US$1.15bn.

“Over the last two years, we have finalised the deployment of 6Mt new capacity in Nigeria. Looking ahead, we are now focused on a less capital-intensive expansion cycle, which includes building grinding plants across West and Central Africa to leverage and strengthen Dangote Cement’s regional integration. We are on track to deploy grinding capacity in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. In addition, our Alternative Fuel Project is at an advanced stage which aims to leverage waste management solutions, reduce CO₂ emissions, and source material locally. This year, we co-processed 89,000t of waste representing a 60% increase over 2020,” said chief executive officer Michel Puchercos.

The group noted that Cement demand in Nigeria was sustained by increasing housing infrastructure, commercial construction, and government projects including major highways, roads, and railways. In May 2021 it re-started exporting clinker from its Onne and Apapa terminals and delivered seven clinker shipments with a total volume of 197,000t in 2021. It also exported 706,000t in 2021 by road to Togo and Niger. Internationally, the group said that it performed well but it also faced challenges in Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone, where freight costs had increased substantially, causing volatility in the landing cost of cement and clinker.