Displaying items by tag: Shipping

Malaysia: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs has blamed a shortage of cement in the state of Sarawak, Borneo on high demand and a lack of shipping. State director Datuk Stanley Tan noted that many major construction projects had restarted work in 2021 following disruption caused by the nationwide movement control orders (MCO) caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, according to the Malay Mail newspaper. He added that imports of raw materials for cement production had also been affected due to the limited number of ships that could cross the South China Sea.

The local government plans to work with local producer Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad (CMS) on solving the problem. Together they hope to end the shortage of cement by December 2021.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s consolidated sales rose by 5.6% year-on-year to US$2.54bn in the first nine months of 2021 from US$2.41bn in the first nine months of 2020. It recorded consolidated cement sales of 23.4Mt, up by 7.5% from 21.7Mt in the corresponding period of 2020. Sales growth in Eastern Europe - especially the Czech Republic and Poland - and the US offset a partial slowdown in Italy, particularly in the third quarter of the year.

The group expects global construction activity to generally remain level into the fourth quarter of 2021. It forecast “favourable” volume and price effects in its full-year results for 2021. It nonetheless noted “growing concern” at rising energy, fuels, logistics, raw materials and services costs in various regions. It forecast group recurring earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) not in excess of 2020 levels.

Sri Lanka: The government has adjusted the monopoly situation at Trincomalee Harbour to allow multiple industries to freely make use of land at the port. The policy aims to further boost the development of Indian Ocean trade.

Tokyo Cement (Lanka) operates a 2.4Mt/yr grinding plant at Tincomalee Harbour, and is in the process of establishing a new 1Mt/yr integrated cement plant at the port’s China Bay dock.

US: Cemex USA has upgraded two Florida cement terminals, the Pensacola and Palm Beach terminals, at a cost of US$8m. The upgraded terminals will serve to increase Cemex USA’s cement supply to the region through marine shipments from its global operations. The Palm Beach terminal is also involved in the distribution of assorted cementitious materials including granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) and fly ash for cement production.

USA executive vice president Matthew Wild said “Florida is growing rapidly, and Cemex’s strong network makes our company well-positioned to implement supply chain and operational enhancements to meet the high demand for building materials in Florida and beyond.” He added “On the cement side, increased demand has outpaced supply at times, and we expect our supply chain enhancements to help alleviate that issue.”

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement subsidiary Hachinohe Cement has announced that it will be receiving heavy oil and woodchips from cargo washed ashore from the wreck of a ship at Hachinohe port on 11 August 2021. The company plans to use the waste as refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for cement production at its cement Hachinohe cement plant. The company said that the oil spill from the incident has had a great impact on the region. It added “In the future, we would like to actively promote the acceptance of wreckage with heavy oil attached and cooperate in the early resolution of the situation.”

Pakistan: The Pakistan International Bulk Terminal plans to invest US$70m in increasing its coal capacity by 40% to 17Mt/yr from 12Mt/yr with the installation of a second conveyor belt. The expanded terminal will open in late 2023 or early 2024. The Dawn newspaper has reported that cement producers previously called for an expansion of the country’s coal import infrastructure. The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) lobbied the government in July 2021 to permit coal discharge at the 10,000t/day Karachi Port Trust port. By contrast, the Pakistan International Bulk Terminal currently has a capacity of around 30,000t/day. It charges importers US$5.49/t of coal, plus a US$1/t handling fee for use of its berth.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has signed a contract with Klaveness Digital for the supply of the latter’s CargoValue cement terminal logistics platform throughout its supply chain. The move follows a successful trial project carried out by the parties during the second quarter of 2021. Cementos Argos says that it solidifies its digitisation agenda to preserve its strong market foothold in the Americas.

Trading and business intelligence senior director Gabriel Ballestas said “Our business model is focused on the customer and on creating added value for our stakeholders. CargoValue has enabled us to digitise existing processes to improve visibility and make better decisions throughout the supply chain towards that goal.” He added “This wider rollout will improve collaboration between stakeholders and allow us to identify and improve supply chain efficiencies between sites.”

Cyprus: Eureka Shipping has ordered two cement carriers from Netherlands-based shipbuilder Royal Bodewes. This latest order represents the fourth and fifth ships in a series that Eureka Shipping, a joint venture between SMT Cement Ships and the CSL Group, has requested from the shipbuilder, according to Maritime Reporter & Engineering News. The new ships follow the Aalborg White, Kongsdal and Norden that were built in 2019. Each vessel has a capacity of 4252dwt. Eureka Shipping operates a fleet of 13 cement carriers with a range of 3000 – 23,000dwt.

Taiwan: Asia Cement Corporation has completed its US$1.3m full shore power project for its cement vessels. Following the upgrade its cement carriers use the ‘Taipower’ power supply when berthed at port instead of using on-board generators. The project has been implemented at the ports of Kaohsiung, Taichung, Keelung and Hualien. The cement producer currently operates four cement carriers.

The shipping upgrade is expected to save over 1474t/yr of fuel oil and effectively reduce 5329t/yr of CO₂ emissions. The cement producer added that it would improve the unloading efficiency of cement carriers, decreasing the unloading time by 50%, and reduce wear on the ship generators.

A great question was asked at yesterday’s Virtual Global CemTrans Seminar: what impact did the recent blockage of the Suez Canal cause to the cement industry? Luckily, Rahul Sharan from Drewry was on hand discussing freight costs following the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

As most readers will know, the Suez Canal was blocked in late March 2021 when the 200,000dwt Ever Given ran aground, at around six nautical miles from the southern entry of the canal. The ultra large container vessel was subsequently refloated and towed away just under a week later. While this was happening the fate of the ship became a global news story with business analysts totting up the cost of the obstruction. 40 bulk carriers were reported as waiting to transit the waterway the day after the blockage started and some of these were carrying cement. Reporting by the BBC noted that 369 ships were stuck waiting on either side of the blockage on the day before the ship was finally freed. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) estimated their loss of revenue from the incident at US$14 – 15m/day. Analysts like Allianz placed the cost to the global economy at US$6 - 10bn/day.

In Sharan’s view the blockage of the Suez Canal happened at a potentially risky moment for cement and clinker shipping because there was already congestion in shipping lanes built up on the east coast of South America and around Australia. However, a delay of a week around the canal, followed by the resulting congestion dispersing quickly over the following days, does not seem to have had any major impact so far.

Sharan’s presentation at Global CemTrans also included a summary of cement shipping. The key takeaways were that clinker shipping overtook cement shipping in 2019 with a connected increase in fleets investing in handymax-sized vessels. He also pointed out the key cement and clinker importing countries in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic started causing market disruption. For cement: the US, the Philippines and Singapore. For clinker: China, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Turkey and Vietnam were the biggest exporters for both in that year.

The Ever Given incident has highlighted the continued importance of the Suez Canal for global trade for commodities. Goods still need to be physically moved around, however much stuff we digitise. It also contrasts with the issues that the Egyptian cement sector has faced in recent years such as production overcapacity. While domestic cement plants have struggled to maintain their profits, plenty of cement carriers have been transiting through the Isthmus of Suez. Local producers may well have gazed at them and wondered where they were going.

One of them, Al-Arish Cement Company, took action in this direction this week with its first export shipment of clinker. The Clipper Isadora ship disembarked East Port Said port for Ivory Coast. Future shipments are planned for West Africa, Canada, the US and Europe. Ship tracking reveals that the Clipper Isadora has not taken the Suez Canal on this occasion.

The proceedings pack for the Virtual CemTrans Seminar 2 2021 is available to buy now