Displaying items by tag: Port

Australia: Boral Cement’s proposed 1.3Mt/yr grinding plant at Geelong in Melbourne is expected to be operational by 2020. Construction work on the US$94m unit is planed to start soon, according to the Geelong Advertiser newspaper. The plant will be connected to Lascelles Wharf at the Port of Geelong via a conveyor system.

The cement producer and the port have signed a 25-year agreement supporting the facility. Boral has operated at the port for the last seven years. The new grinding plant is intended to allow Boral to reduce the cost and time of transporting its products from its Waurn Ponds plant. It will also support an anticipated growth in infrastructure demand in Victoria.

US: GCCM Holdings has ordered a ship unloader from Siwertell for a terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Siwertell ST 640-M unit will have a continuous rated cement-handling capacity of 1500t/hr and will be able to unload ships of up to 60,000dwt. The unloader is currently being built and will be delivered fully assembled by heavy-lift ship to the port. Siwertell will supervise its commissioning and the unit is expected to start operation in the third quarter of 2019.

South Africa: A ship carrying clinker and gypsum has arrived at the Port of Ngqura. The raw material is intended for Osho Cement, a company setting up a grinding plant at Coega special economic zone, according to the Herald newspaper. The imported clinker and gypsum was transported by truck to the new plant.

The joint venture between South Africa’s Osho ventures and Germany’s Heidelberg Cement plans to market cement from its new unit to South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and islands in the Indian Ocean. The plant is scheduled to open the new plant in late 2018.

Kenya: The Mombasa county government has ordered the closure of a clinker storage plant run by Corrugated Sheets due to the accusation that is has emitted large amounts of dust. Stephen Wambua, the head of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) in Mombasa said that operations at the Mikindani-based unit had been stopped and would not resume until it was in full compliance with environmental regulations, according to the Business Daily newspaper. The closure followed complaints by local residents.

Wambua said that imported clinker via the Port of Mombasa is stored in a number of premises locally. Dust is emitted during loading and offloading of consignments. Nema is also investigating claims that other companies are storing ‘toxic’ materials in the Jomvu area. In August 2018 the Kenya Star newspaper linked the Corrugated Sheets site to widespread respiratory illness in the local neighbourhood, including some suspected fatalities since clinker storage started in 2010.

India: Penna Cements is close to starting operations at its new terminal at Cochin Port in Kochi, Kerala. The 0.8Mt/yr unit at Ernakulam wharf includes a bagging plant and it has an investment of just under US$9m, according to the Hindu newspaper. Once it opens it will join Zuari Cement, Ambuja Cement and UltraTech Cement, which also operate from the port.

Spain: Cementos Tudela Veguín has bid for a concession at the El Musel section of the Port of Gijón. The cement producer plans to build a dedicated terminal at the site, according to La Nueva España newspaper. Cementos Tudela Veguín has used the northern extension of the port since 2012. It processed 1.04Mt of cement and clinker at the site in 2017.

Oman: Northern Ireland’s Telestack has won a Euro5.7m deal to supply a mobile shiploading system to the Port of Salalah. The system will be used to load limestone, gypsum and cement clinker and will be operational later in 2018, according to the Irish News newspaper. The project is part of an on-going Euro17bn government infrastructure investment to support mining, quarrying and the cement industry. It is Telestack’s largest single order to date.

Kenya: Samson, a subsidiary of Aumund Group, has delivered four hoppers with ATEX certification to the Port of Mombasa operated by the Kenya Port Authority. The new equipment will be used to import clinker, coal and gypsum to the site. Peak rates of 700t/hr per hopper are expected to considerably improve the import capabilities of the port.

The hoppers are decked with inlet grills with suction capacity, a reverse-jet cleaning system, air compressors, a flex-flap filtration system creating a pressure differential between the inner and outer hopper areas and dust filters on three sides of the hopper. The hoppers are mobile with powered travel and crabbing functionality which lets them be positioned alongside a vessel for unloading and which will allow them to be manoeuvred off the quay and freeing up space when not required. Samson says that these are the first ecological hoppers to be provided with ATEX certification.

This equipment was sourced to fulfil the aims of TradeMark East Africa - Kenya Port Authority Port Resilient Infrastructure Programme to improve port facilities whilst minimising the environmental impact of port operations.

Estonia: Kunda Nordic Tsement plans to spend Euro2.2m on upgrades to its operations. The investment will be used for emission improvements, updating its plant’s power distribution system, starting to use clinker dust in cement grinding and dredging the port of Kunda, according to the Virumaa Teataja newspaper.

The subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement increased its output of clinker and cement by 20% and 60% respectively in 2017. Its plant relaunched its second kiln in 2017 but this increased its CO₂ emissions. It produced 1081kg of CO₂ per ton of clinker compared to the European target of 766kg. The plant operates two wet process kilns but it plans to switch to a dry production process in the future as this would help it reduce its emissions.

HeidelbergCement holds a 75% stake in the company with the rest belonging to Ireland’s CRH.

Spain: The Port of Alicante is undergoing a Euro3m upgrade to build a new dock that can support larger vessels. Once completed the upgrade will allow ships with a length of up to 240m to dock, according to the Diario Informacion newspaper. Previously the port could only support ships of up to 165m. The site processes large volumes of cement and clinker and dust mitigation measures are also being installed.