Displaying items by tag: railway

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has signed a memorandum of understanding with rail freight company Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI). Indonesia Government News has reported that the memorandum covers a planned increase in cooperation on rail-based transportation and medium and long-term land leases, the conduct of joint studies into railways and infrastructure and the development of other forms of potential cooperation.

President director Hendi Prio Santoso said, “This cooperation is a synergy to complement each other and provide the best results for both parties. Through the synergy that exists today, it is hoped that it can be more optimal in taking advantage of every opportunity, so that it can further contribute to the company, Badan Usaha Milik Negara (BUMN) and the Indonesian nation.” He added, “Today is the first step in a joint commitment. Hopefully, this cooperation can run smoothly and in accordance with our goals, expectations and planned target time.”

India: Shiva Cement plans to invest around US$200m towards a new integrated cement plant in Sundergarh district, Odisha. The 1.36Mt clinker unit will also include a 1Mt/yr grinding unit, an 8MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit, 4Mt/yr crushing plants at its dolomite and limestone quarries, a connecting 10km belt conveyor and a dedicated railway siding with a 12km track to the main network.

ThyssenKrupp Industries India will supply a 4000t/day clinker production line for the project. Larsen & Toubro has been awarded the contract for civil, mechanical and refractory erection work. The unit is expected to create around 500 jobs directly and indirectly. Commissioning is scheduled to take place by March 2022.

Parth Jindal, the managing director of JSW Cement said, "The new clinker unit at Shiva Cement in Odisha will provide a strategic advantage to service the needs of our customers in the region and further strengthen JSW Cement's leadership position in the Green Cement category in India.”

The subsidiary of JSW Cement intends to use the new plant as a strategic hub to access markets in the east of the country. It is part of the group’s aim to achieve a production capacity of 25Mt/yr by 2025.

Germany: Dyckerhoff has reopened a railway siding at its integrated Amöneburg cement plant. The additional transport link joins road and water connections at the site. The company said that reusing the railway siding made sense given low water levels in the River Rhine, that made parts of the waterway unnavigable in 2018, as well as adding a sustainable transport route. The railway tracks at the site have not been used actively since the mid-2000s. The cement producer has repaired the tracks on its site and a related signalling system.

UK: Cemex UK has invested around Euro0.65m in its UK rail transport network between 1 January 2020 and 31 October 2020, upgrading the Crawley, Cambridge, Dove Holes, Salford, Selby and Sheffield railheads. The company spent Euro0.44m on the Dove Holes railhead upgrade, “extending the rail loading wall to increase the shovel loading and storage capacity and installing track working modifications to provide more flexibility to operations” at the site in Derbyshire. It said that the investments are “part of a rolling four-year development programme, with plans in place to spend similar amounts each year.” This will include further upgrades to the Sheffield and Selby railheads in 2021. The company said that the aim is “to increase safety standards and reliability while providing opportunities to grow and enhance service levels.”

David Hart, Cemex’s Supply Chain Director for UK & France, said, “As a result of the investment into our rail network this year we have been able to grow volumes and make our service more reliable, which in turn has halved our unplanned outage costs and incidents. These developments will also ensure our railheads lead the industry for safety standards and are more robust. Rail is an integral part of Cemex UK’s supply chain network and we are committed to increasing our service further, capitalising on the time, capacity and efficiency benefits this form of transport offers.”

Portugal: Cimpor has won a contract to supply cement for a new 80km railway line linking Elvas to Évora. It expects to delivery up to 0.14Mt of cement for the project, according to the Dinheiro Vivo newspaper. Cement will be supplied from its Alhandra integrated plant and ready-mixed concrete from other sites. The project is expected to be completed in early 2023.

Russia: The railways transported 11.4Mt of cement in the first half of 2020, down by 11% year-on-year from 12.4Mt in the first half of 2019. Beton News has reported that the figure is the lowest in a decade, down by 33% from17.0Mt in the record first half of 2012.

Sweden: The Swedish Transport Association (ST) has arranged with Cementa for the supply of ‘climate-enhanced’ cement for the completion of an expansion of the Malmö – Lund Southern Main Line between Arlöv and Lund, including an underground section and three new stations. The company first concluded the contract with ST in 2017 and has since supplied normal Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) to the major infrastructure project. It has now agreed with the client to switch to ‘climate-enhanced’ OPC produced at its 2.5Mt/yr integrated Slite cement plant, which burns over 60% alternative fuels in its kiln lines, for production of the remaining 65,000m³ of concrete required for the project. Cementa southern district manager Jenny Larsson said, “This project is in line with Cementa’s climate-enhanced vision for infrastructure.”

Nigeria: The Senate of Nigeria has urged the Federal Ministry of Transportation to complete the construction of the Ajaokuta - Otukpo railway line. The legislative chamber also advised the ministry to include a siding at Okaba to Ankpa as part of the project to make coal transportation easier, according to the Vanguard newspaper. Cement companies, including Dangote Cement’s Obajana plant and the Kogi State Super Cement Company at Allo-Itobe, would benefit from reduced coal prices. At present their coal is delivered by road. The railway project would also aid the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

Zambia: Jimmy Khan, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Lafarge Zambia, has complained about production overcapacity and competition to the president of Zambia. He said that local cement consumption is 2.2Mt/yr compared to production of 5Mt/yr, according to the Lusaka Times newspaper. He made the visit to the president of the country to inform him of a 25% rise in the price of cement. Khan blamed the price hike on business losses.

However, Khan praised the government for its infrastructure development and said that the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim has moved much of its despatches from road to railway. At present the cement producer has a 33% market share. It also intends to continue using the Mpulungu Port in Northern Province to export cement to the east African market.

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement has marked nine years in a partnership with Transnamib, Namibia’s state railway company. The partnership covers coal transportation from the Port of Walvisbay to Ohorongo’s integrated cement plant at Otavi and despatches of palletised cement. Transnamib also arranged additional train services between Tsumeb and Ondangwa to support shipments to the north of the country.

“We highly value our relationship with Ohorongo Cement as their increased utilisation of rail transport allowed for the implementation of our road-to-rail strategy which have resulted in a reduction of approximately 150 trucks on the road between Tsumeb and Ondangwa,” said Zebby Mukungu, Marketing and Sales Manager at Transnamib.