Displaying items by tag: US
US: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is working with Lehigh Cement to investigate a potential source of hexavalent chromium (chromium six) emissions from a cement terminal in Portland. The environmental agency suspects that cement dust may be a contributing source of chromium six that it has monitored since March 2016 in southeast Portland. The DEQ is working with the cement company to improve its dust-capturing efforts when unloading cement from railcars.
“We're concerned about the persistence of elevated levels of chromium,” said Pete Shepherd, interim DEQ director. “We are making every effort to bring those levels down.” The DEQ has also required a nearby glass manufacturer to clean its exhaust stacks to tackle the problem.
The Great Wall of Donald Trump
20 July 2016Back in the May 2016 issue of Global Cement Magazine we asked key people at the Portland Cement Association how they thought the US presidential election might affect the local cement industry. Wisely, for an advocacy organisation with offices in Washington DC, no one would be drawn, citing a lack of information. At that point it was still unclear who was going to be on the final ticket. However, we all missed a trick because one candidate, Donald Trump, had been talking about building ‘a border fence like you have never seen before’ since at least mid-2014. And that fence could potentially require a lot of cement.
Researchers at market analysts Bernstein’s sent a note to clients last week ahead of the Republican National Convention looking at the implications of if Donald Trump became president of the US and actually set out to build his 40ft high concrete wall between the US and Mexico. The result would be a 2.4Mt boost in demand for cement from cement producers near to the border. In terms of market demand Bernstein concluded that this would add over 1% to cement demand in both 2018 and 2019, a healthy ‘shot in the arm’ to the already pepped-up US cement industry, which is currently growing at around 5%/yr.
Map 1: Map of cement and ready-mix concrete plants near to the US - Mexico border. Source: Bernstein Materials Blast. Note – Bernstein does not show the Capitol Cement plant in San Antonio.
Needless to say, Bernstein’s calculations pile-drive assumptions into assumptions, atop of Trump’s political rhetoric. It bases its calculations on a border wall similar to the Israeli West Bank barrier built out of precast concrete panels. It also tries to model how much concrete and cement would be required depending on the differing height’s Trump has trumpeted at his rallies.
The kicker to this tongue-in-cheek analysis is that the construction company that stands to benefit the most from this infrastructure project is Mexican!
Cemex has significantly more cement plants and ready-mix concrete plants than any other company within a 200-mile zone either side of the border. Looking at integrated cement plants alone, it has six plants in the regions near to the proposed wall from the east and west coasts. Its nearest competitors, CalPortland with four plants and Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua with three plants, are more regionally based in the western US and Chihuahua state in Mexico. Clearly Cemex didn’t rate the chances of Donald Trump’s wall actually happening when it agreed to sell its Odessa cement plant to Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua in May 2016.
All of this goes to show that, wherever you stand on the Donald Trump presidency bid, if you manufacture cement near the US-Mexican border you might be working overtime if he (a) actually becomes president, (b) actually manages to start building his wall and (c) actually decides to make it using cement. Yet before anybody starts popping champagne corks consider this: there might also be unintended consequences for the cement sector. Restricting current legal and illegal migration trends from Mexico to the US might have a greater negative effect on the US cement industry, and the overall economy, than ordering one large infrastructure project. Working that one out is harder than a guesstimate of how much cement a border wall might consume. Probably best not to ask at this stage who might actually pay for the Great Wall of Donald Trump.
Cemex Puerto Rico fined US$292,000 for Mine Safety and Health Administration violations
13 July 2016Puerto Rico: The US Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has fined Cemex Puerto Rico US$291,722 in penalties relating to 119 citations and orders issued for safety violations at the company’s Ponce Cement Plant and Cantera Canas mines. The cement producer must now implement enhanced safety measures at its three MSHA-regulated facilities in Puerto Rico.
The MSHA issued the citations and orders for a wide variety of violations, including obstructed and unsafe travel ways and workplaces, safety defects on mobile equipment and machinery, and unguarded machine parts. The settlement was approved on 7 June 2016.
In the settlement Cemex agrees to hire an independent external safety consultant knowledgeable about surface mining and cement plant operations to conduct annual, wall-to-wall employee safety audits of these three facilities over the next four years. It will also arrange for the MSHA’s Educational Field and Small Mine Services to teach a mine safety course and cement plant safety course to safety directors, assistant safety directors, area supervisors and foremen.
US: HarbisonWalker International (HWI) has increased its inventory levels of monolithic refractory materials in response to customer demand. The North American supplier refractory products and services says it is now supplying its widest ever range of materials. The company previously announced a restructuring and rebranding initiative in May 2016 to increase its competitiveness. This included reorganising its distribution centres as Global Sourcing Centres to hasten delivery and product availability.
HWI runs an international network in North America, Europe and Asia, with 19 manufacturing plants, 30 global sourcing centres and technology facilities in both the US and China. Its cement refractory products include Versagun, Versaflow, Shot-Tech, Kruzite-70, Kala, Magnel RS, Magnel, Thor, Magnel Ultra and Magnel Ultra AF.
Belgium/US: HeidelbergCement has made a shortlist of potential bidders for assets in Belgium and the US that should be divested as part of its acquisition of Italcementi, according to Bloomberg. Bidders for Italcementi’s Belgian business include Turkey’s Çimsa Çimento and Italy’s Cementir Holding. The business are valued at around US$400m. Bidders for Italcementi’s US assets include Summit Materials and CRH. This business are valued at around US$600m according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. All shortlisted bidders will face a due diligence process.
HeidelbergCement set for acquisition of Italcementi
22 June 2016The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave HeidelbergCement permission to complete its acquisition of Italcementi assets in the US on 17 June 2016. This was the second and final major competition body that could have challenged the purchase, following approval by the European Commission in late May 2016. Although the FTC consent now faces a month for comment the deal is looking likely to complete towards the end of the summer.
HeidelbergCement and Italcementi have gotten away with having to sell just one cement plant and 11 terminals in the US. The Lafarge-Holcim merger in 2015 had it tougher. Those companies were forced to sell two cement plants, two slag grinding plant and a host of terminals. Admittedly LafargeHolcim is now the biggest cement producer in the US (and the world) but HeidelbergCement will hold more integrated cement plants in the US following its acquisition.
As predicted the FTC took exception with the proximity of the company’s assets in West Virginia and Pennsylvania following the acquisition. So the parties have agreed to sell the Essroc Martinsburg integrated cement plant in West Virginia. When Global Cement visited the plant in late 2013 the staff told us that cement from the plant was distributed from central Ohio eastwards to western Pennsylvania and south to southern Virginia. The plant also switched over to a FLSmidth dry production line in 2010 giving it a clinker production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr, making it one of the newer plants in the Essroc stable.
The FTC also flagged up competition concerns in five metropolitan areas: Baltimore-Washington, DC; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Virginia; Syracuse, New York; and Indianapolis, Indiana. In light of this the proposed consent agreement requires the merged company to divest seven Essroc terminals in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania and a Lehigh terminal in Solvay, New York. Two additional Essroc terminals in Columbus and Middlebranch, Ohio are to be sold at the option of the buyer and subject to FTC approval. Finally, Essroc’s terminal in Indianapolis is to be sold to Cemex.
Funnily enough, the FTC took about a year to approve both the merger of Lafarge and Holcim and HeidelbergCement’s purchase of Italcementi. This compares to the European Commission which took nine months to approve the Lafarge-Holcim deal but which took 11 months to clear the HeidelbergCement-Italcementi one. Given the greater overlap of assets of the Lafarge-Holcim merger in both Europe and the US one might have thought that the approval process would have taken longer. Or maybe bureaucracy moves at a speed all of its own. Read into this what you will. The creation of the world’s second largest multinational cement producer draws closer.
FCT makes global appointments
22 June 2016US: Adriano Greco will become the CEO of FCT Inc from 1 August 2016. Greco became the company’s US-based sales director in early 2016. Greco has previously acted as managing director of Greco and as sales director for Gebr. Pfeiffer.
Other staff movements at FCT Inc include the appointment of Ricardo Costa as a technical director based in Brazil. The company will also open a new office in Florida to support its development in the Latin American market. Elsewhere in the group, Joel Maia has joined FCT as the technical director of its European subsidiary, FCT GmbH.
US: HGH Infrared Systems, the American subsidiary of HGH Systemes Infrarouges (HGH), based in Boston, Massachusetts, has just acquired Electro Optical Industries (EOI), based in Santa Barbara, in California. The new entity will be named Electro Optical Industries Inc.
EOI, a pioneer of electro-optical test instruments, has been a provider of infrared, visible and ultra violet testing and calibration equipment since 1964.
Commenting on the transaction, Thierry Campos, President of the newly formed Electro Optical Industries Inc said, “This merger will greatly enhance our development and manufacturing capabilities in the USA. It will also significantly extend our product line and service offerings to the benefit of our customers worldwide. We are very excited by this historic move which will add to our rapid expansion and will position our group as a world leader in infrared instruments and wide area surveillance systems.”
US Federal Trade Commission provides clearance for acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement
20 June 2016US: HeidelbergCement and Italcementi have reached an agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to allow the company’s merger to proceed on schedule. The FTC accepted the proposed divestment of operations in the US, primarily consisting of Italcementi’s Martinsburg cement plant in West Virginia and up to eleven terminals on 17 June 2016. All competition approvals necessary for closing the Italcementi acquisition have now been obtained.
“We are very pleased with the positive decision of the Federal Trade Commission,” said Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “We are now on track to close the acquisition of the 45% stake in Italcementi which we are planning together with Italmobiliare for the beginning of July 2016.” The divestment process for the assets in US has already started and significant interest has already been recorded. Citi is mandated as sell side advisor for the disposal.
The planned full acquisition of Italcementi will proceed in two steps following approval by the necessary competition bodies. HeidelbergCement will initially acquire a controlling stake of 45% from Italmobiliare. HeidelbergCement will then propose a public mandatory offer to the remaining shareholders for the acquisition of their shares in return for a cash payment. The exact timing of the mandatory offer will be released at a later date. HeidelbergCement expects the entire transaction to be completed in the second half of 2016.
Flexco launches PTEZ Belt Trainer
09 June 2016US: Flexco has added the PTEZ Belt Trainer to its line of belt trainers. Designed with the Flexco ‘Pivot and Tilt’ feature, the new PTEZ Belt Trainer is targeted at
applications that requires tracking to prevent damage to the belt or conveyor structure, including single-direction and reversing belts.
“The PTEZ Belt Trainer is an advanced solution over typical low-cost wobblers or pivot-only trainers,” said Kevin Fales, marketing specialist for Flexco. “With our unique pivot and tilt technology, the PTEZ will pivot away from and increase tension on the mistracked side in order to quickly guide the belt back to the centre.”
The PTEZ belt trainer can be used on vulcanised or mechanically-fastened belts for most medium-duty applications, including wet and dry conditions, belts with edge damage or wear, and belts that are mistracking to one or both sides. The line’s ‘Pivot and Tilt’ feature keeps the belt away from the structure and the material stays on the belt without the use of sensor or edge rollers. The tapered ends on the roller drive the pivot and tilt mechanism, allowing the two forces to quickly move the belt back to the centre. The PTEZ Belt Trainer also features a polyurethane roller cover to prolong its lifespan.