Displaying items by tag: Port

Spain: The Valencia Port Authority (APV) has blocked a request by Cemex Spain to expand its operations at the Port of Grau in Valencia. The port authority denied the cement producer because the port is being used for passengers, according to the El Mercantil Valenciano newspaper. However, the port is hoping to find another site for Cemex to use.

Cemex has used the nearby Port of Sagunto for cement and clinker exports since 2014. Exports have since represented 40% of its sales. Production from the company’s Buñol cement plant is exported to countries in the Mediterranean, especially in North Africa.

Algeria: Trade Minister Mohamed Benmeradi says that Algeria will commence cement exports. An export of Ordinary Portland Cement will be made to Gambia via the port of Arzew, according to the El Moudjahid newspaper. In a separate statement LafargeHolcim Algeria said that it was exporting 16,000t of cement to West Africa from its plant at Oggaz.

Lithuania: Akmenes Cementas says that its new terminal at the port of Klaipėda will increase its exports to Scandinavia. At present the cement producer sends about 15% or 0.15Mt/yr of its output to the region, according to the Verslo Zinios newspaper. Once completed in the spring of 2018 the terminal will allow exports to be increased to 0.2Mt/yr.

India: Gujarat’s Sanghi Cements is preparing to build a floating terminal at Kochi Port in Kerala. The plan is intended to targeted markets in the south of India, according to The Hindu newspaper. The floating terminal will consist of a berthed ship with a bagging plant on-board and it will have a capacity of 0.3Mt/yr.

“Once the project becomes operational, Kochi Port will be the first major port in the country to have a floating cement terminal,” said AV Ramana, Deputy Chairman of the port. He added that Sanghi Cements has similar facilities in the minor ports of Kutch and Navlakhi in Gujarat and Dharamtar in Maharashtra.

The port is also commissioning more automated cement bagging plants. Ambuja Cement, UltraTech Cement and Zuari Cements each operate units at the port and Penna Cement and Malabar Cements will set up bagging plants in November 2017 and March 2019 respectively. The total capacity of the five units is estimated to be around 3Mt/yr.

Vietnam: The government has approved development planning to start for an inland port for the Siam City Cement Vietnam Thi Vai cement grinding plant. The proposed site will be adjacent to the Thị Vải River, according to the Vietnam Investment Review magazine. The port is expect to be able to support barges with a capacity of up to 5000t. The plant was acquired by Thailand’s Siam City Cement in March 2017 when it purchased Holcim Vietnam from LafargeHolcim.

Pakistan: Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), the country’s first dry bulk unit for coal and cement, has started commercial operations with a consignment of coal in early May 2017. The US$285mn Muhammad Bin Qasim Port, which was built with support from the World Bank, will also be used to export cement and clinker, according to the Express Tribune newspaper. The terminal is capable of handling 12Mt/yr of cargo and has a storage yard spread over 62 acres. PIBT, under a 30-year build, operate and transfer agreement with the Port Qasim Authority, built its own jetty and is equipped with two coal ship unloading cranes and one cement and clinker loading crane.

UK/Ireland: Quinn Cement is planning to build a Euro2.9m port facility at Warrenpoint Harbour in County Down in Northern Ireland, UK. The 7500t terminal will be operated over a 10-year period in conjunction with the Warrenpoint Harbour Authority, according to the Irish Independent. Final commissioning for the project was approved in late January 2017. The investment is intended to compliment the company’s update to its terminal in Rochester, Kent in England and to help the company ‘cope’ with the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

Portugal: The commercial port at Faro has seen activity stop since June 2016 following the decision by Cimpor to suspend operations at its quarry in Loulé. The cement producer has been the port’s biggest client in recent years and in 2016 it became the site’s only, according to the Portugal News newspaper. A report by the Authority for Mobility and Transport shows that movement at the port fell by 45% year-on-year for the first nine months of 2016. Cimpor stopped operation at its quarry in September 2016 and laid off 57 workers citing the cancellation of major cement export contracts to Algeria. It hopes to resume operations at the site in 2017.

India: JSW plans to invest US$610m to boost its port and cement capacity in the next two years. It plans to almost double its ability to handle cargo at its ports to 62Mt/yr, with a target to further increase it to 200Mt/yr by 2025, according to group CFO Seshagiri Rao. Cement capacity is estimated to increase to 17Mt/yr in the next 24 months from 6Mt/yr at present.

"Ports appear to be a very attractive investment as ports and inland waters have not at all been leveraged in India," said Rao to Bloomberg. "We feel that in each of the core infrastructure sectors there is a huge amount of change happening." Rao said that the group will build its own cement plants instead of acquiring an existing business.

India: With one more cement terminal set to commence operations in November 2015 on the port premises and two more in the pipeline, Kochi, Kerala is set to emerge as a major cement hub in south India.

Cochin Port Trust sources said that the number of cement terminals at the port would go up to three with the Zuari Cement terminal set to commence operations in November 2015. This is in addition to the UltraTech and Ambuja cement terminals in operation already. Penna Cement has begun construction works and decks have been cleared for Malabar Cements to begin work on its proposed terminal. All of the terminals, excluding one, would be capable of raising their throughput to 1Mt over the years, according to Port Trust.

These terminals will not only increase income for the financially-troubled Cochin Port Trust, but also generate substantial employment involving evacuation of the cargo out of Kochi to various parts of Kerala. For every 10,000t of cement imported, the Port Trust will earn up to US$230,714/yr in both vessel and cargo related charges.

Figures show that cement throughput at the Kochi port has grown substantially between 2010 - 2011 and 2014 - 2015. Cement throughput was 2.59Mt during 2010 - 2011. It has gone up to 7.03Mt during the 2014 - 2015 financial year. Cement throughput almost doubled from 3.11Mt during 2012 - 2013 to 6.04Mt during 2013 - 2014.