UK: Cemex UK says that use of MP Connect contractor and haulier cards will be mandatory across its operations by the start of 2022. The Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary is presently rolling out the cards in its London and Southern ready-mix locations. It previously launched them at aggregates sites in its Central and Southern business areas. The system is now live at 39 sites and is used over 2000 times weekly, according to the company. It said that the initiative will help to streamline internal processes and enhance management of hauliers and contractors, legislative and site requirements are complied with.

Supply chain director Dave Hart said “Safety is Cemex’s number-one priority and we are always looking for ways to make our processes in this area more streamlined and effective. Implementation of the MP Connect system across our business will ensure that all drivers meet the standards set through checks of qualifications and competencies, while also providing them with more support and making their visits to different sites easier.” Cemex said that this will ‘enable the business to continually raise standards and lead the industry in safety and compliance.’

The MP Connect system was launched by the Mineral Products Qualifications Council (MPQC) in late 2020. It is intended to provide a single unified record of driver and operator working achievements that, when presented on a reader at site, can be viewed by logistics personnel. The information on the card then allows the logistics team to grant access, safe in the knowledge that the correct safety criteria applicable to the site, have been met by the person carrying the card.

Spain: Cement consumption grew by 17% year-on-year to 7.31Mt of cement in the first half of 2021 from 6.23Mt in the same period in 2020. Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, said that the figure for 2021 remained 1.4% below the same period in 2019 though. However, the consumption in June 2021 was looking promising compared to both the same month in 2020 and 2019. Exports increased by 36% to 3.8Mt in the reporting period. The association celebrated this figure but warned that high electricity and CO2 taxes could potentially have a negative effect on future exports by the sector.

Portugal: Semapa subsidiary Secil is spending Euro86m on modernising its Outão cement plant in Setúbal. The Dinheiro Vivo has reported that the work will turn the facility into ‘the most sustainable cement plant in Europe,’ according to the company. It will reduce CO₂ emissions by 20%, end fossil fuel use and establish waste heat recovery to supply 30% of the plant’s electrical power needs. The government has granted the ‘Project of National Interest’ Euro14.5m in funding. The project will also expand the cement plant’s capacity by 30% to 1.3Mt from 1.0Mt.

Chief executive officer Carlos Abreu said "We have the ambition of reaching carbon neutrality in 2050 and this project is a step in that direction. Others will follow." He added "The Asian and American blocs are not always facing that direction, but the path is made by walking... and we will get there." Regarding the timing of the project, Abreu said "Secil was a very brave company here. The project was decided in 2019 before the pandemic broke out... We kept it, despite the fact that knowing that the pandemic was going to be, and is being, very difficult, but we believe that we had no other alternative."

Russia: Rosneft subsidiary Vostsibneftegaz contracted SLK Cement to supply over 8000t of oil well cement to its Yurubcheno-Tokhomsk oilfield in Krasnoyark region in late 2020. The subsidiary of Italy-based Buzzi Unicem provided PZT I-G-CC-1 type oil well cement and shipped it by rail and road. It says that the oilfield is among its target markets in Ural district, alongside the Tyumensk, Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamal-Nenets oilfields.