Displaying items by tag: Russia

Russia: Engineering company Wikov Gear will transport a 120t gearbox to a cement plant near Vladivostok, Russia, via road and ship by February 2015. It is the heaviest gearbox Wikov Gear has produced in over 100 years of existence, according to CEO Tomas Zrostlik. Lorries with the gearbox will leave Plzen, western Bohemia, in the middle of November 2014.

The biggest gearbox made by Wikov Gear thus far weighed 102t. It was made for Siemens, which was building a cement roller mill in South Korea. "Before that, we were producing special gearboxes which weighed 60 – 70t, in particular for roller mills' heavy operations," Zrostlik said. Some 80% of the company's portfolio is equipment weighing 20 – 25t.

The gearbox that is destined for Russia is 8m long, 5m high and 2.5m wide. It has been designed for 15 years of operation. The recipient is Spassk-Cement, of the private group Vostok Cement, which has three cement plants and supplies 95% of its output to Russia.

"We will load the equipment within three weeks. It will travel to Hamburg and then by ship via Shanghai. We expect it to arrive in 45 - 50 days," Zrostlik said. The gearbox will be in 25 boxes, the heaviest one weighing 45t. The assembly will start in March 2015 and the launch of its operation is planned for around 15 April 2015. Wikov Gear is also responsible for the assembly and online implemtnation.

Supplies for cement plants have made up 15% of Wikov Gear's turnover thus far, but the share is to rise up to 25% in 2015. The company also won an order from Lafarge in Germany in November 2014.

Russia: Eurocement's Mikhailovcement plant in Ryazan produced 1.21Mt of cement in January - September 2014, up by 20.2% on the same period of 2013. This includes 281,350t of CEM I 42.5H (+65.6%) and 981,620t of clinker (+17%). A total of 1.23Mt (+21.1%) was shipped to customers. The plant extracted 1.27Mt of limestone (+16.9%) and 439,860t of clay (17.2%) from its quarry during the first nine months of 2014.

Russia: Eurocement has closed down Savinsky cement plant in the Arkhangelsk region for modernisation until 2018. Employees of the plant are reportedly afraid that the production will be eliminated as voluntary resignation was offered by the management of the plant. Savinsky cement plant produced 207,000t of cement in January - August 2014, down by 57% compared with the same period of 2013.

Russia: Eurocement has signed a contract for more than Euro116.8m with Finnish power solutions company Wärtsilä for the supply of thermal power plants as part of its modernisation programme for reducing power costs. The total investments in the project will amount to Euro156m. The plants will have a combined capacity of over 300MW, which will meet 60% of the group's power needs and cut costs by 15 - 20%.

Russia: Lafarge SA has sold one of its Russian cement plants to Buzzi Unicem as part of its effort to cut debt. The Ural Cement plant in Korinko, Chelyabisnk was sold for Euro104m. Lafarge aims to reduce its debt to below Euro9bn from Euro11.2bn. The plant sale requires regulatory approval.

Russia: Eurocement has allocated Euro6.2m for the implementation of a new dedusting system at the Katavsky Cement plant in Chelyabinsk. The launch of the system, which was made by the Czech manufacturer ZVVZ, will reduce dust emissions by 33%.

Russia: Stroigaz construction group plans to sell a controlling stake in a cement plant in the Altai region, Siberia. The deal should take place in the first quarter of 2015. Stroigaz holds 75% minus one share in the plant. The plant has a cement production capacity of 300,000t/yr. A strategic investor is expected to boost the plant's capacity. The deal is estimated at Euro22.4-37.3m. Stroigaz had previously held negotiations for the sale of the plant to Germany's HeidelbergCement in 2007, but the deal was not concluded.

Russia: The renovation of the Podgornoe railway in the Podgorensky District of Voronezh Region has now been completed at a total cost of Euro14.8m. Eurocement contributed Euro8.92m to the joint venture project, which was carried out with JSC Russian Railways.

"This is an excellent joint project between big businesses," said the governor of the Voronezh Region, Alexei Gordeev. "Eurocement and JSC Russian Railways were able to reach an agreement on joint investments in the station's renovation, which made it possible to substantially increase its cargo throughput. It was very fortunate for us that one of the largest cement plants was opened in the Podgorensky District of the Voronezh Region. Productivity tripled in the last year alone and all this is thanks to the efforts of the cement plant. Now the railroad is ready to meet the cargo transportation needs of the enterprise." According to the president of Eurocement, Mikhail Skorokhod, the station's renovation will support the shipping of up to 2Mt/yr of cement from Eurocement's plant.

As part of the renovation, existing routes were extended and underwent major repairs, which allows trains of increased length (up to 71 cars) to be used, overhead contact lines were repaired and upgraded and the system underwent a transition to the Ebilock-950 centralised microprocessor, which is designed to control switches and signals at the station. In total, 2.6km of track and 36 turnouts were laid, 13km of overhead contact lines and carrier wires were replaced, 245 new supports were installed and the station area was renovated.

Russia: Eurocement Group and China Triumph International Engineering (part of CNBM), have announced a project to build a mechanical engineering plant in the Ulyanovsk region. Total investments are estimated at US$3bn according to regional press. The implementation of this project was decided upon at a meeting of Ulyanovsk Governor Sergey Morozov, Eurocement Group President Mikhail Skorokhodov and representatives of China Triumph International Engineering.

The facility will make equipment for the cement industry as well as equipment for automotive, railway, oil and gas, chemical, defense and nuclear industries.

Skorokhodov said that Eurocement was currently implementing an 'unprecedented' phase of building new dry-process cement plants. It aims to increase its dry cement production ratio to 100% by 2018.

Russia: Krasnoyarsk Cement plans to launch its new dry-process cement line at the Krasnoyarsk Cement plant in 2014. The launch date will depend on market conditions. Construction will cost Euro262m in total, Euro19.5m of which has already been spent. Construction works began in 2009.