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Fatality at Kosmos Cement plant 10 August 2016
US: A person has died at the Kosmos Cement plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Local police told the WDRB local television station that the male victim was aged in his 30s or 40s and was pronounced dead on the scene. Officials say the death was a workplace accident involving a pulley system.
Canada: McInnis Cement has commissioned NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers to supply it with a 15,000t deadweight cement carrier ship using a cement unloading system delivered by Van Aalst Marine & Offshore. The self-discharging dry bulk cement carrier will be time chartered by McInnis Cement under a long-term agreement. The ship, which was built in 2011, is currently undergoing conversion in China to a cement carrier by its owner NovaAlgoma. The conversion will include the installation of the cement unloading system and a hybrid exhaust gas scrubber system capable of operating in both fresh and salt waters. The ship is scheduled for delivery in early 2017.
“We are pleased to establish this new relationship with NovaAlgoma and Van Aalst that will allow us to take advantage of their cutting edge technology, attention to ecological details and their long-term marine transportation and cargo handling expertise,” said McInnis Cement Vice President Logistics and Distribution, Mark Newhart. The ship will be registered in Canada and use Canadian crew.
“The McInnis project will be a showcase of how the Van Aalst signature vacuum – pressure technology in cement carriers will result into high performance, low emissions and an unsurpassed reliability. The productive and professional partnership approach between McInnis, NovaAlgoma and ourselves has proven to be very successful in achieving and exceeding the requirements of the project,” said Wijnand van Aalst, CEO of Van Aalst Group.
The scrubber system will enable the ship to be fully compliant with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marpol Annex VI Sulphur Oxide (SOx) regulations, regardless of the fuel being used within the North American ECA (emissions control area) which includes Canadian and US coastal waters and the Great Lakes.
The time charter agreement for the ship was brokered by Barry Rogliano Salles, a diversified global shipping services group offering a range of maritime activities. The company’s core business is ship brokering and has been active for over 150 years, operating 20 offices worldwide.
Nigeria: Production managers at Lafarge Africa’s cement plants at Ewekoro and Sagamu, Ogun State have complained about poor supplies of gas. Segun Shoyoye and Hannes Diedericks made comments to the Nigerian Guardian following a shutdown period of six weeks. They said that the situation started in early 2016 and has led to low production at the plants. The pair made their comments to the press in connection to an inspection of the two plants by officials from the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), led by the Acting Director-General, Paul Angya.
"The major issue is lack of gas supply because of the blowing up of oil and gas pipelines by militants in the Niger Delta region. We are now using a mixture of gas and black oil for our operations, which is highly costly, and also drops our production from 100% to 75% at the Ewekoro plant. This has been going on since February 2016,” said Shoyoye. He added that production at Sagamu stopped for six weeks in May 2016. Production has dropped from 3000t/day to 1000t/day due to the issue. Lafarge Africa is currently sourcing alternative sources of energy for its cement plants.
Arabian Cement appoints Sergio Alcantarilla as CEO
Written by Global Cement staff
10 August 2016
Egypt: Arabian Cement has appointed Sergio Alcantarilla as its CEO with effect from 3 August 2016. He succeeds Jose Maria Magriña Vadillo.
Alcantarilla was previously the Chief Operation Officer of Arabian Cement. He graduated from the Superior Industrial Engineering School at the University of Seville in Spain. After entering the cement industry in 2002 he worked for five years as a plant manager in Spain before moving to Egypt in 2009.
Alain Bourguignon and Ian Thackwray leave LafargeHolcim
Written by Global Cement staff
10 August 2016
Switzerland: Alain Bourguignon, region head for North America, and Ian Thackwray, region head for Asia Pacific will leave LafargeHolcim following a reorganisation of its executive committee. The group said the changes reflected an evolution of its portfolio following recent divestments and the closure of its integration phase following the merger between Lafarge and Holcim.
Pascal Casanova, currently responsible for the Latin America Region, will take responsibility for North America including Mexico. Roland Köhler, currently responsible for the Europe Region will add Australia, New Zealand and Trading to his responsibilities. Martin Kriegner, currently responsible for India, will join the Executive Committee and take additional responsibility for South East Asia. Oliver Osswald, currently responsible for our operations in Argentina, will join the Executive Committee with responsibility for Central and South America.
As of 5 August 2016, the executive committee, chaired by Eric Olsen, will be composed of the following members:
- Urs Bleisch, Group Head of Performance & Cost;
- Pascal Casanova, Region Head North America including Mexico;
- Roland Köhler, Region Head Europe & Australia / New Zealand & Trading;
- Martin Kriegner, Region Head India & South East Asia;
- Gérard Kuperfarb, Group Head of Growth & Innovation;
- Caroline Luscombe, Group Head of Organization and Human Resources;
- Oliver Osswald, Region Head Central & South America;
- Saâd Sebbar, Region Head Middle East & Africa and
- Ron Wirahadiraksa, Chief Financial Officer.