Displaying items by tag: Lehigh Hanson

Cemex pushed ahead yesterday and announced that it had sold the Kosmos Cement Company to Eagle Materials for around US$665m. It owns a 75% stake in the company, with Italy’s Buzzi Unicem owning the remaining share, giving it roughly US$449m once the deal completes. Proceeds from the sale will go towards debt reduction and general corporate purposes. The sale inventory includes a 1.7Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Louisville, Kentucky as well as seven distribution terminals and raw material reserves.

The decision to sell assets makes sense given Cemex’s financial results so far in 2019. It reported falling sales, cement volumes and earnings in the first nine months of the year although much of this was down to poor market conditions in Mexico. However, the US, along with Europe, was one of its stronger territories with rising sales. Earnings were impaired in the US, possibly due to bad weather in the southeast and competition in Florida, but infrastructure and residential development were reported to be promising.

Graph 1: Portland & Blended Cement shipments in 2018 and 2019. Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Graph 2: Change in imports of hydraulic cement & clinker to the US in 2018 and 2019 from selected countries. Source: USGS.

United States Geological Survey (USGS) data also supports a picture of a growing US market. Shipments of Ordinary Portland Cement and blended cements grew by 2.4% year-on-year to 66.9Mt for the first eight months of 2019 from 65.4Mt in the same period in 2018. By region growth can be seen in the North-East, South and imports. Declines were reported in the West and Midwest. The states of Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee – the area where the Kosmos plant is located – saw shipments grow by 4% to 4.77Mt from 4.58Mt. It is worth noting that Louisville is in the north of Kentucky near the border with Indiana, where shipments also grew.

The Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) fall forecast may also have helped Cemex’s decision. Ed Sullivan, PCA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, said that he expected cement consumption in the US to continue growing in 2019 and 2020 but with a slowing trend into 2021 following general gross domestic product (GDP) predictions. The PCA’s view is that pent-up demand following the recession in 2008 was gone and the economy was gradually weakening. Crucially though it didn’t think a recession was impending. In this scenario Cemex might be taking a medium-term view with regards to the Kosmos Cement Company.

Another more general interesting data point from the USGS was the change in import origins to the US. Imports grew by 11.3% to 66.9Mt in January to August 2019. The top five importing countries and their overall share remained the same but there was some movement between them. Turkish and Mexican imports surged at the expensive of Chinese ones as can be seen in Graph 2. The go-to explanation for this would be the on-going US - China trade war. Cemex is a Mexican company with a strong presence in both the US and Mexico. This change in the make-up of the import market in the US may also have informed its decision to sell Kosmos Cement as it looked at the macro scale.

More generally the US market is looking buoyant in the short to medium term. Plants are being sold like Kosmos Cement to Eagle Cement and the Keystone cement plant in Bath, Pennsylvania to HeidelbergCement and a major upgrade project is underway on the new production line at the Mitchell plant in Indiana. In Cemex’s case, as ever with asset sales, the seller sometimes has to make the hard decision of whether to divest a plant in a growing region to help the business in other places that might not be doing so well. The growth of America’s largest locally owned producer, Eagle Cement, may also give cheer to the US’ current ‘America First’ administration.

US: Union workers at the Keystone Cement plant in Bath, Pennsylvania have started legal action against the company over its sale to HeidelbergCement. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) union says that the company must honour its contracts, according to the Morning Call newspaper. It is representing around 132 workers at Keystone’s cement and aggregate operations.

According to the lawsuit, HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Lehigh Hanson announced in October 2019 that it would not accept or assume the terms of any existing contracts. The union claims that this contravenes a requirement that any new owners or operators of the plant assume the contracts in place at the time of sale. The agreement to sell the plant to Germany’s HeidelbergCement for US$151m was announced in late September 2019. It is subject to regulatory approval.

US: Lehigh Hanson has started construction work on a US$600m upgrade to its Mitchell cement plant. The groundbreaking ceremony follows approval of an air permit by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) in July 2019, according to WBIW radio. The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement is building a new production line to replace the existing three lines at the site. Start-up for the line is scheduled for the third quarter of 2022.

US: Staff members at Ash Grove Cement, GCC and Cemex have won awards at the Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) 2019 John P Gleason, Jr Leadership Awards. The awards recognise PCA members who have exhibited leadership in advancing industry programs and initiatives. The scheme is named after John ’Jay’ Gleason, who served as PCA president from 1986 until his retirement in 2007.

Curtis Lesslie, Vice President of Environmental Affairs at Ash Grove Cement, won the Business Continuity award. He has served on the PCA’s Environment and Energy Committee working on numerous environmental initiatives that benefit sustainability and continuity of cement manufacturing. He has promoted information sharing and benchmarking between companies and supported PCA's Occupational Health and Safety Committee as well as the PCA-MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) alliance

David Gray, Market Manager, GCC of America won the Market Development award. The PCA said that he had been a consistent example to industry professionals, customers, and industry associates on how promotion can be both a “fun and rewarding experience.” At the customer level he has raised awareness of the potential gains for cement and concrete in a broad range of construction markets and helped companies and associations create successful promotion initiatives.

Nathan Kimball, Vice President, Safety & Health, Lehigh Hanson won the Young Leaders award. He is an active member of PCA’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee. His work with Mine Safety and Health Administration leaders through information exchange and engagement has helped advance the shared interests of the industry.

No overarching theme this week but rather four changes of note in different markets. The first is Lehigh Hanson’s agreement to buy the integrated Bath plant in Pennsylvania, US, from Giant Cement, a subsidiary of Mexico’s Elementia. Lehigh Hanson, a subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement, plans to pay US$151m for the 1.1Mt/yr unit giving it a cost of US$137/t of cement capacity. That’s a similar price that Elementia paid when it acquired Giant Cement in 2016. The Mexican conglomerate paid US$220m for a 55% stake in 2016 for three cement plants with a combined production capacity of 2.8Mt/yr or US$143/t.

The purchase by HeidelbergCement draws a line following problems selling its business activities in Ukraine. The group blamed a drop in profit in the first half of 2019 on this. Since then though it has been linked to a takeover of UltraTech’s stake in Emirates Cement, the owner of the 0.5Mt/yr Emirates grinding plant in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Buying a cement plant in North America, its second most lucrative region after Western and Southern Europe, looks set to be a wise investment.

The timing here is interesting given that Elementia, the building materials company partly-owned by ‘Mexico’s richest man,’ Carlos Slim, has been steadily expanding in recent years. As stated above it only acquired Giant Cement in 2016. However, its net sales and earnings fell in the second quarter of 2019 caused by a market contraction in Mexico affecting all of its businesses. Sales from its cement businesses in the US and Central America grew but they fell by 6% at home in Mexico. Elementia said that proceeds from the sale of the Bath plant will be used for debt repayment and ‘general’ corporate purposes. Notably, Ricardo Naya Barba, the president of Cemex Mexico, has also described the local market as ‘difficult’ this week, in comments reported upon by local media.

Meanwhile in Africa, China’s Huaxin Cement purchased Maweni Limestone from Athi River Mining (ARM) Cement in Tanzania as part of the latter’s on-going administration process. Local press reported the transaction as costing US$116m and subject to regulatory approval. This one’s interesting because it shows a major Chinese cement producer buying related assets outside of China. This is likely part of the country’s Belt and Road Initiative to develop industry and infrastructure around the world and to give its overproducing industries new markets. Perhaps the surprise here is that Huaxin Cement hasn’t gone after the rest of Kenya’s ARM Cement… yet.

The other African news story of note this week was the confirmation that Singapore’s International Cement Group (ICG)’s intended purchase of Schwenk Namibia had failed. This deal was announced in March 2019 but it later ran into trouble when the Singapore Exchange blocked the proposed acquisition in June 2019 on the grounds that ICG didn’t appear to have the money to pay for it.

Lastly, Yamama Cement announced that it wants to sell its Production Lines 1-5, which have a daily clinker production capacity of 5600t/day. The producer previously temporarily shut down the lines in 2017 and it has been planning to build a new cement plant. Since then though it has faced shrinking sales and profits in the tough Saudi Arabian market.

The takeaway from all of this is that, despite the doom and gloom of a world producing too much clinker, some cement companies are targeting growth in specific territories. Sometimes these schemes succeed, as in the case of HeidelbergCement and Huaxin Cement, and sometimes they don’t, as ICG has found out. Heavy building materials like cement are costly to move around so a plant or assets in the right place at the right time can make a fortune.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has announced the winners of the 2019 Energy and Environment (E&E) Awards. The awards recognised environmental and community relations projects that were completed in 2018 and were presented at the 3rd Annual Cement and Concrete Fly-In.

The CalPortland Mojave cement plant in California won the Energy Efficiency award for the installation of a new classifier system for its vertical roller mill that increased energy efficiency by reducing fan power requirements. The plant also installed a control system for the finish mill that will maximise performance and help reduce wear on equipment. The classifier installation reduced the finish mill energy intensity by 1.5 to 2.0kWh/t, and the control system reduced energy intensity by 13%. In 2018 22% of the electricity consumed by the plant came from on-site renewable wind energy generation. CalPortland has implemented significant energy efficiency measures and its energy management program has been recognised by the Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star program as the Energy Star Partner of the Year for 15 years in a row.

Roanoke Cement Company and Titan America’s Troutville plant in Virginia won the Environmental Performance award for being the first cement manufacturing plant in the US to receive ISO 50001 certification for energy management of all aspects of energy procurement, design and use. The plant reduced its total electrical consumption by 10% and fossil fuels use by more than 12%. The plant has also implemented an alternative fuels program as part of its certification for the True Zero Waste Program, administered by Green Business Certification and has received silver status achieving a 96% rate of waste divergence from landfills.

Lehigh Hanson’s Permanente cement plant at Cupertino in California won the Innovation award for the installation of a water treatment system reducing concentrations of metals, including selenium, to meet permit limits. Lehigh Hanson developed a treatment system that combined ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis (UF/RO) technology in conjunction with biological treatment technology to remove metals, including selenium and dissolved solids. This ensured applicable effluent limits were met while optimising treatment capacity and efficiency. This treatment system is the first of its kind in the cement industry ensuring that effluent limits are met while, at the same time, limiting the quantity of waste needed to be managed.

Buzzi Unicem USA’s Greencastle cement plant in Indiana won the Land Stewardship award for opening a 4km smooth packed stone trail in conjunction with the not-for-profit People Pathways organisation as Phase 2 of the Putnam Nature Trail. Buzzi Unicem USA staff and People Pathways used heavy equipment for rough clearing and grading of the overgrown former railroad bed and improved and expanded the physical trail. These areas were then landscaped with trees, native prairie vegetation plugs, interpretive signage, benches, birdhouses and other features. Additional nature trail enhancements include placement of wildlife monitoring cameras along the trail, installation of nesting boxes and interpretive signage, and maintenance of the recently completed restoration of native flora installed in 2017 and 2018.

Cemex’s Lyons cement plant in Colorado won the Outreach award for volunteering work by its staff at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Boulder, Colorado, performing campground improvement activities at Glacier Basin Campground by moving rocks and fallen timber and clearing existing fire pits of ash deposits. The plant then introduced a new community outreach initiative by hosting a Manufacturing Day event, providing local students tours of the quarry and plant to increase youth interest in pursuing a vocation in skilled trades. Additionally, the plant teamed up with the Celestial Seasonings B Strong Ride for cancer care and research for an event aimed at increasing safety awareness while fundraising for two local organizations and their efforts to fight cancer.

Canada: Lehigh Hanson Materials has signed a deal with SaskPower to give it exclusive rights to fly ash from the coal-fired Shand Power Station near Estevan in Saskatchewan. This expands on an existing 10-year agreement signed in 2012 to market Boundary Dam Power Station fly ash. An estimated 0.22Mt/yr of fly ash will be sold from the Boundary Dam and Shand Power stations.

US: Staff members from Ash Grove Cement, Argos USA and Lehigh Hanson have won awards at the Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) 2018 John P Gleason, Jr Leadership Awards. The awards recognise PCA members who have exhibited leadership in advancing industry programs and initiatives. The scheme is named after John ’Jay’ Gleason who served as PCA president from 1986 until his retirement in 2007.

Steve Minshall, Corporate Director, Safety and Health at Ash Grove Cement won the Business Continuity award. He has served on the PCA Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Committee for two decades, where the PCA say he has proven to be a strong safety leader in implementing many programs and initiatives to reduce workplace injuries. He has led efforts to better partnership with regulatory agencies in pursuit of the common goal of safety. Finalists in this category were Brett Lindsay, Environmental & Energy Manager at Salt River Materials Group, and Steve Wilcox, Cement Technical Director at Argos USA.

Lori Tiefenthaler, Senior Director of Marketing at Lehigh Hanson won the Market Development award. As chair of the American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) in 2017, Tiefenthaler led efforts to better align the missions of allied cement and concrete associations, including an effort to launch PavementDesigner.org, which is a joint project between PCA, ACPA and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. She has served on the executive board for the National Concrete Consortium, through which she has helped improve connections and outcomes for the cement and concrete industries with federal and state departments of transportation and academia. Finalists in this category were Bill Asselstine, Vice President Sustainability at St. Marys Cement/VCNA, and David Gray, Market Manager at GCC of America.

Gina Lotito, Vice President, Energy & Environmental, GCC of America won the Young Leaders award. She is an active member of the PCA Environment & Energy Committee, where she has been chair and vice chair of the Sustainable Manufacturing Subcommittee, and served on the Sustainable Development Committee. She has proven a leader in promoting the use of clean alternative fuels for cement production, and in federal advocacy efforts to lower regulatory barriers for using such fuels under the Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials Rule. Finalists in this category were Ed Griffith, Vice President Sales & Marketing, US at St. Marys Cement/VCNA and Adam Posly, Production Manager at LafargeHolcim US.

US: Lehigh Hanson’s Speed cement plant in Indiana will be converted into a distribution terminal. The decision follows an investment of US$600m towards upgrading the Mitchell cement plant in Indiana, according to the Evening News and Tribune newspaper. At present the Speed plant has a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr and the Mitchell plant has a production capacity of 0.7Mt/yr. Following the upgrade the Mitchell plant will have a capacity of 2.8Mt/yr. Changing the focus of the Speed unit is expected to lead to the loss of 100 jobs. although half of these could be moved to Mitchell.

US: Lehigh Hanson plans to spend US$600m on modernising and upgrading its Mitchell cement plant in Indiana. The project will increase production capacity and reducing energy usage and emissions per ton of cement produced. The project is the largest expansion and modernisation that the subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement has undertaken in North America.

Lehigh Hanson is working with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to obtain the required air permits and anticipates the permitting process to be completed in the summer of 2019. The company is also working with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation regarding available business incentives. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2020 and completion of the new plant is anticipated by the end of 2022. Once finished the upgrades will create around 50 new jobs at the unit.

The cement producer has also worked with local and state officials to develop increased infrastructure surrounding the plant, which will support the expanded operation. This includes a road connecting the plant to a local highway, alleviating truck congestion from the centre of town. Overall logistics will also change to accommodate additional rail activity to handle increased cement shipments from the plant.