Displaying items by tag: Rail
Brazil: América Latina Logística (ALL) plans to increase the volume of clinker and cement it transports for Votorantim Cimentos in the south of Brazil by over 30% before the end of 2013. The Brazilian logistics firm intends to increase its shipments for Votorantim to 1Mt/yr from 0.75Mt/yr, according to Brazilian news service Agência Estado.
ALL recently invested US$3.4m in trains and improving unloading bays in the southern state of Paraná and has borrowed a total of US$771m from the Brazilian Development Bank so far in 2013. The construction market represents 15% of its client portfolio in the industrial products sector.
Indian rail freight rate up by 15%
02 October 2013India: Indian Railways has raised a freight tariff of 15% on all commodities, including cement, from 1 October 2013. Designated a busy season charge in a railway notification, the tariff is due to run until June 2014. The charge precedes a review of the fuel adjustment component (FAC), applicable after every six months to adjust fuel prices, that was also due on 1 October 2013.
Sagar Cements plans US$20m railway line
26 June 2013India: Sagar Cements has prepared a US$20m plan to build a 7km-long railway line connecting its cement plant at Matampally in the Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh. Executive Director Sreekanth Reddy said that the proposed line is expected to be complete by 2015 and dispatches by rail are expected to rise by 20% subsequently.
In Sagar Cement's last financial year, which ended on 31 March 2013, it dispatched 1.55Mt of which 39,500t were transported by rail. Sales of Sagar's products outside Andhra Pradesh have been steadily increasing and accounted for 46% of total sales in the last financial year, according to an official spokesperson.
Indian cement price set to rise following Railway Budget
27 February 2013India: Indian cement producers are poised to pass on a 5.79% increase in the freight rate to consumers following the Railway Budget. However a cement producer quoted by the Press Trust of India said that a final decision would be taken after the Union Budget.
"With the hike in freight charges, the impact will be US$2.41/t - US$2.78/t of cement production," said Shree Cements managing director H M Bangur.
An analyst tracking the cement industry said that cement makers never absorb the hike in freight costs and these are always passed through. In the budget Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal raised the freight charges for cement, diesel, LPG, steel and iron-ore by up to 5.8%.
Attacks on cement dealers reported in Kerala
11 April 2012India: Keralan cement dealers have condemned attacks on cement shops and cement vehicles allegedly carried out by workers attached to the railway goods sheds in the towns of West Hill and Kallai. They have warned they will retaliate if the attacks continue. The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES) has declared support to the dealers, organised under the banner of the Kerala Cement Dealers Association.
T Naziruddin, KVVES president, inaugurating the general body meeting of the Kerala Cement Dealers Association's Kozhikode unit, demanded the intervention of the authorities to settle the issue. District president of the association MV Sakeer Hussain, who presided over the meeting, called for an immediate end to the attacks, which he said were being carried out to press for higher unloading charges for cement at railway goods sheds.
The association has alleged that the workers were insisting that cement should be brought to the city only by trains and that vehicles bringing cement by road were being attacked to create an artificial scarcity of cement. He said that this in turn would cause hardships to those who depended on the construction sector for livelihood.
India: The Cement Manufacturers Association of India (CMA) has asked the Railway Board of India to reduce the cost of freight haulage. The CMA raised the issue in the wake of the board's decision to raise freight rates by 24%, which came into effect on 6 March 2012.
The CMA highlighted the disparity in the transportation costs of cement by rail compared to road. Other key concerns included the need to reduce the total cost by suitably lowering the classification for cement and clinker and by curtailing penalties, wharfage/demurrage charges and terminal charges.
The CMA now expects that cement prices will rise. "With this steep hike, the rail transportation cost of cement, which is already very high, will go up further including the transportation cost of input materials like coal, slag, gypsum assuming an average rail lead of 600km for the cement industry," said the CMA's President MMAR Muthiah.
According to Muthiah, transportation contributes about 20% to the operating cost of the cement industry. In addition, the industry has been highly taxed at over 60%. In the last couple of years railways have revised the classification of cement and clinker consistently from class 130 to 150 resulting in indirect freight hikes. In addition, a further burden on cement industry has been imposed by levy of various surcharges like a busy season terminal surcharge and development surcharge in the last few years.
Lafarge to reconnect sidings to North Kent mainline
21 September 2011UK: Lafarge Cement's vision for the future is starting to take shape at the company's former cement works at Northfleet in Kent, UK, where it is conducting a major investment to reconnect rail freight facilities to the main north Kent line. Lafarge expects the rail sidings to be operational by mid February 2012.
The first main user of the restored line will be the cross-London rail project, Crossrail, which will transport excavated material from a tunnel bore near Paddington, London by train to Northfleet for onward transportation by ship.
Balfour Beatty Rail is carrying out all the design and construction of the new sidings and connection to the main line, whilst Chunnel Group has carried out the siding preparation works within the main site. The overall length of the rail link is around 2.25km and in total 4.75km of new track will be provided.
The 104-acre site is undergoing redevelopment by Lafarge in association with the Councils of Kent and Gravesham. The linkage of the site to the main line represents another important step in the regeneration of Northfleet embankment.