Displaying items by tag: Canada

Canada: Kate Strachan has become the new plant manager of the Lafarge Exshaw plant in Alberta, the largest in Canada. She took up the position in June 2018.

Born and raised in Warrington, UK, Strachan moved to Canada with her family when she was 10 years old, following her father’s job in marine engineering. She graduated from the University of Victoria with a mechanical engineering degree in 2000 before joining Lafarge Canada’s Richmond plant in the mechanical engineering department. Over the next 12 years she moved up through the mechanical department, eventually becoming the maintenance coordinator and then production coordinator at the plant.

After holding that position for several years she was promoted to production manager for Lafarge’s Sugar Creek plant in Missouri, US, but returned to Canada in less than a year to assist with the Exshaw plant’s US$600m expansion. “The commissioning of a new plant line is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so it was something I couldn’t really pass up,” said Strachan.

After spending nearly two years as the plant’s production manager, Strachan assumed her new role as plant manager in June 2018, taking over from Jim Bachmann, who was the plant manager since 2015.

UK: Refractory producer RHI Magnesita says that its cement and lime segment was ‘flat’ in the first half of 2018. It blamed this on on-going low capacity utilisation in China and Brazil and ‘some’ market share losses due to its prices. The adjusted sales revenue of its Industrial Division, including cement and lime, rose by 14.3% year-on-year to Euro413m in the first half of 2018 from Euro362m in the same period of 2017. Overall, the company reported a 24.6% increase in revenue to Euro1.51bn from Euro1.21bn.

In a separate release RHI Magnesita subsidiary Magnesita said that the company’s revenue rose by 81.6% to US$133m. This was attributed to sales to the cement business in North America and higher deliveries in Europe in 2018. However, Magnesita’s services business suffered from a poor cement market in Brazil.

Canada: Hervé Mallet, the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of McInnis Cement, is leaving the company. He has been in post since November 2016. He will be replaced, with immediate effect, by Jean Moreau, chief financial officer, who will assume the role of president and CEO on an interim basis

Moreau joined McInnis Cement in the spring of 2017. He holds experience in company, finance and operations management, and has held leadership positions within private and public entities in the finance and operations management sectors. McInnis Cement said that, “Moreau is familiar with McInnis and will ensure business continuity.”

Canada: The government has made a proposed new carbon tax easier for large-scale industrial emitters such as cement and steel producers. Originally the new legislation proposed imposing a levy on around 30% of a company’s CO₂ emissions from the start of 2018, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. However, the revision has reduced the tax on so-called vulnerable industries with the cement and steel sectors only having to pay 10%. The levy will start at US$15/t in January 2018, rising to around US$40/t in 2022.

The decision to soften the carbon tax follows lobbying by the affected industries. The tax applies to provinces that do not have existing carbon emission controls, such as cap-and-trade schemes, that meets the central government’s standards. The provincial government of Ontario, which contains six of the country’s 17 integrated cement plants, recently decided to leave its own carbon pricing system. It will be subject to the new rules. Saskatchewan will also be affected.

Canada: Sparta Manufacturing has appointed Terri Ward as Vice President of Business Development. Ward brings nearly three decades of industry experience to the role having previously worked for SSI Shredding Systems. Sparta Manufacturing is an integrated engineering and manufacturing company specialising in recycling system design and development.

Canada: Sparta Manufacturing has appointed Rutger Zweers as Vice President of Sales Engineering. Zweers brings 20 years of industry experience and engineering expertise to Sparta. Over the course of his career he has worked on recycling system projects and brings experience in construction and demolition and single stream systems development.

Sparta Manufacturing is an integrated engineering and manufacturing company specialising in recycling system design and development. Sparta has a 35-year track record integrating best-available technologies with their portfolio of machinery. Providing turn-key system development and retrofit expertise, Sparta has an install base across North America that includes construction and demolition systems, single-stream, organics and commercial waste processing.

US: The first ship from McInnis Cement’s plant in Canada has docked at the company’s terminal in the Bronx, New York. The NACC Alicudi docked at the terminal in mid-June 2018. The event follows the start of commercial production at McInnis Cements’ plant in Port-Daniel–Gascons, Quebec in June 2017.

Canada/France: Canadian pension companies La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) completed their acquisition of a minority stake of France’s Fives in late May 2018. The equipment manufacturer will remain controlled by its management, with Ardian as another minority shareholder. The group said that the new investment would enable it to expand and to explore research and development programs that aim to improve energy efficiency and a lower environmental footprint.

Canada: NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers (NACC) has bought a 25% stake in JT Cement. It joins Norway’s KGJ Cement Holdings (KGJ) and Sweden’s Erik Thun (Thun) in ownership of the cement company, which operates a fleet of seven smaller specialised pneumatic cement carriers. The investment is intended to expand NACC's global footprint into the Northern European market where KGJ and Thun have a strong presence. The daily operations of the JT Cement fleet will not change as a result of the NACC investment, with the vessels continuing to be commercially managed by KGJ's office in Bergen, Norway.

"This investment will allow us to each apply our experience and knowledge in the pneumatic cement carrier market to create additional shipping solutions to meet the needs of customers," said Ken Bloch Soerensen, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Algoma Central Corporation. NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers is a 50/50 joint venture company between Algoma Central Corporation and Luxembourg’s Nova Marine Holding.

In January 2016 Nova Marine Carriers and Algoma Central Corporation created NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers. The fleet comprises pneumatic cement carriers that utilise a compressor and pump system to load and unload cement powder.

Algoma Central Corporation operates a fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers on the Great Lakes and St Lawrence Waterway, including self-unloading dry-bulk carriers, gearless dry-bulk carriers and product tankers. Algoma also owns ocean self-unloading dry-bulk vessels operating in international markets.

Canada: CSL Group has agreed to buy 50% of Eureka Shipping, SMT Shipping agreement for CSL to acquire 50% of Eureka Shipping, SMT’s pneumatic cement vessel business. The new joint venture will allow Eureka and CSL to expand services to customers in the seaborne cement powder and fly ash transportation markets around the world. CSL’s Australian cement shipping business is not included in the joint venture.

“The joint venture represents an important step in CSL’s strategy to increase its presence in the global construction material sector,” said Louis Martel, President and chief executive officer (CEO) of CSL Group.

The companies say that the partnership is a strong strategic fit, leveraging the companies’ respective strengths in the shipping and handling of dry bulk cargos. There will be no change in the day-to-day management and operation of vessels in the Eureka fleet. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed by the end of June 2018.

Eureka Shipping operates a fleet of self-unloading cement carriers in the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean and Asia. SMT Shipping Group has, over the past 30 years, built a fleet of about 45 vessels through a number of joint venture companies operating in various bulk commodities markets, focusing on geared bulk carriers, floating storage/transhipment terminals and belt-unloaders.