Displaying items by tag: logistics

Australia: Boral says that its emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) as being consistent with the levels required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Boral released its targets in August 2021 when it said it intends to reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050. It subsequently joined the SBTi’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Race to Zero campaign.

The Australia-based building materials company plans to reduce its Scope One and Two emissions by 46% by 2030. It also plans to decrease its relevant Scope Three emissions per tonne of cementitious materials by 22%. It intends to do this by: transitioning to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 and increasing alternative fuels usage at its Berrima plant kiln; growing the proportion of revenue from its lower carbon concrete product range and optimising the efficiency of its cement plant; reducing transport emissions in its own and contractor fleet; prioritising lower carbon intensity suppliers; and exploring and testing emerging carbon capture use and storage technologies.

Boral’s Chief Finance and Strategy Officer, Tino La Spina, said “Boral is determined to become a leading innovator in sustainability through decarbonisation of cement and concrete and increasing our contribution to a more circular economy” He added “We continue to support our customers in their transition to net zero, broadening our range of high performing lower carbon concrete products to cater for all building and infrastructure applications, and offering Climate Active−certified net carbon neutral concrete.”

Germany: Flender has launched the construction of a new 8000m² storehouse at its Voerde, North Rhine-Westphalia, logistics centre. Along with the lease of an additional building from project developer Panattoni, the project will expand Flender’s total storage footprint by 19,000m². The supplier says that the new facilities will reduce the Voerde centre’s CO₂ by optimising its transport routes.

Flender CEO Andreas Evertz said "I am very happy that the expansion of our site in Voerde will allow us to centralise our logistics activities, bringing us another step closer to our goal of operating in a completely carbon neutral fashion by 2030. With the new warehouse space, we are making our logistics processes sustainable and thus reducing a significant part of the previous transport routes and the associated CO₂ emissions.”

Colombia: Cementos Argos says that it uses simulation software for logistics at six of its port operations. The company explained that simulation helps to avoid delays in the rotation of resources and to optimise ships’ capacity.

International commercial advisor Alfonso Andrés Ibarra said “The simulator facilitates the decision-making process when delivering our material, since it allows us to evaluate different scenarios in advance to define the best alternative for loading the shipments. This way, time and costs are reduced, and our supply chain is optimised.”

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.

Philippines: Siam Cement Group has established a subsidiary to provide logistics services for its business in the Philippines. Reuters News has reported that the group has injected US$205,000-worth of investment into the company.

UK: Cemex has joined its subsidiary Cemex Ventures and Taronga Ventures in investing in construction logistics digital platform developer Voyage Control. The group said that the supplier’s product can reduce delays, waste and cost overruns through optimised delivery scheduling, and provide an overview of all transactions in real time. It currently helps to coordinate 6 million deliveries annually at 200 sites across North America, Europe and Asia.

Cemex Ventures director Gonzalo Galindo said “Cemex Ventures seeks to integrate Voyage Control with Cemex's digital assets, which will allow us to provide a better and more complete service to our clients. Now, we can collect more information, continue to promote operational efficiency and sustainable reporting and improve our health and safety criteria to reduce risks.”

Thailand: SCG International has chosen US-based Black & Veatch to help with the acceleration of its electric vehicle uptake across hundred of sites spanning its operations, including cement. The US Trade and Development Agency has given the group a grant towards three logistics fleet electrification pilot projects.

Parent company Siam Cement Group (SCG)’s managing director Abhijit Datta said "I would like to express our sincere gratitude to USTDA as well as Black & Veatch for their support, guidance and efforts that have made this project possible."

Mexico: Cemex has partnered with Sweden-based Volvo to develop a zero-emissions cement fleet. The implementation will extend to mobile construction equipment, trucks, productivity solutions, and uptime services. A Cemex European site will host trials of the technologies.

Head of global sustainability Vicente Saiso said “Working together with a leading global company in electromobility construction equipment and trucks such as Volvo will strengthen our efforts to address climate change and reduce our carbon footprint to reach net zero by 2050. We are excited to collaborate and develop a roadmap to introduce electric trucks and equipment throughout our operations.”

France: Lafarge France has awarded a contract to Germany-based Inform for the supply of its transport optimisation software across its 160 aggregates locations and 900-truck fleet. The software uses algorithms to analyse scheduling decisions in real-time and identify those that are ideal for minimising costs and maximising service and on-time performance.

Supply chain projects head Kevin Perrault said “We have been using Inform’s transport optimisation software for over 25 years in our aggregates business.” He added “We pride ourselves in delivering the best possible service to our customers, and upgrading our operations to the latest version is a key element to help us achieve our goals and to remain competitive in the industry.”

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.”