Displaying items by tag: railway
Cemex UK invests Euro0.65m in rail transport in 2020
05 November 2020UK: 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.”
Cimpor to supply cement for railway project
06 August 2020Portugal: 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.
Cementa to supply climate-enhanced cement Swedish Transport Association supply contract
26 June 2020Sweden: 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.
Lafarge Zambia chief complains of overcapacity and competition
07 October 2019Zambia: 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.
UK: Hanson Cement says that the first phase of a Euro27m upgrade project to its integrated Padeswood plant in Wales has been completed. The upgrade has included the installation of a 0.65Mt/yr cement grinding mill as well as enhancements to production capacity and efficiency gains. The plant can now, with the aid of existing ball mills, match cement grinding with its kiln capacity.
“The nearly new Loesche vertical roller mill, housed in a 34m-high building, started its life at a grinding plant in Bilbao. It had only 7000 operational hours on the clock and was in excellent condition. After dismantling it piece by piece, specialist contractors moved it to the UK where it was reassembled on site at Padeswood,” said Jim Claydon, Hanson UK cement managing director.
Other improvements at the site include the installation of three new rail cement silos that have been installed alongside the existing railhead. This will allow up to three trains a week to be loaded for deliveries to Hanson depots in London, Bristol or Glasgow. The new silos will reduce the transportation of cement produced at Padeswood to customers by road. In addition to the increase in grinding capacity, other recent capital investment at Padeswood include the installation of a plastic packing machine, and the re-commissioning of an existing paper packaging machine and an upgrade in the capability to use recycled paper and plastics as fuel.
India: Dalmia Cement and South Eastern Railways have inaugurated a freight train. The ceremony marked the start of an agreement whereby the cement producer will use its own locomotives with branded rakes of goods wagons, according to the Pioneer newspaper. The deal covers five such freight trains.Image
France: Cemex has supplied over 0.3Mm3 of ready-mixed concrete and more than 0.55Mt of aggregates for the Grand Paris Express project over the past three years. It has used mobile on-site concrete plants and a local network of 21 plants in Île-de-France to support the large-scale railway infrastructure scheme.
"The Grand Paris worksites present a daily challenge to deliver ready-mix concrete on time, supply aggregates to our production sites, and move earthworks from the stations and tunnels out of Paris,” said Benjamin Lecendrier, Major Projects Director at Cemex France.
The Grand Paris Express worksites on metro lines 11, 14 and several sections of line 15 South have involved most of Cemex’s staff in the Île-de-France region, with four full-time operatives working in a dedicated unit. Given the scale of operations, logistical organisation is a challenge, with the twin demands of delivering construction materials and removing 40Mt of earthwork by 2030.