FLSmidth has had a business history with Dangote Cement, which includes the supply of two of the four production lines at its plant at Obajana, Kogi State, Nigeria.
The contracts, which together constitute the largest operation and maintenance contract awarded to FLSmidth to date, is for the operation and maintenance of the plant from crusher to packaging, including full upgrade of the automation control systems. FLSmidth will start the operation and maintenance at one of the plants in about six month's time, and the operation and maintenance of the other lines will follow.
“These orders underline FLSmidth's abilities and growing role as operator of cement plants. In choosing FLSmidth for the operation and maintenance of its cement plants the Dangote Group placed great emphasis on our focus on the use of local manpower and training, including our proven ability to train large numbers of staff through FLSmidth Institute: the current contracts include a workforce of around 1,000 people," says Bjarne Moltke Hansen, group executive vice president.
Dangote Cement is the largest cement producer in Nigeria with over 60% market share and the fastest growing cement producer in Africa having a production capacity projected at about 50 million tonnes of cement per year in the coming years.
“After having decided to have an external partner operate and maintain our cement plants the main criteria has been to find a service provider who can provide ongoing operational reliability. And this is something we believe that FLSmidth can deliver," says Alhaji Aliko Dangote president and CEO of Dangote Group says.
The contracts will be booked by the customer services division and contribute beneficially to FLSmidth's earnings until 2018. The order intake will be recognised on a 12 month rolling basis throughout the contract period.
