News

The construction and equipment machinery rental market in Italy is growing, partly due to the “Expo effect”, according to Marco Prosperi, director of Assodimi-Assonolo, the national association of industrial machinery distributors.

Estimates for the end of 2015 suggest a slight upturn on the 2014 Italian rental market (+0.7%), with Prosperi’s views coming from an interview with PR team from SaMoTer, the triennial international event dedicated to the construction industry next taking place at Veronafiere

New figures from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association show cement sales up 8.71% to 24.8 million tonnes in the period July 2015 to February 2016, compared to the same period of 2014-15. Domestic sales rose 17.4% to 20.9 million tonnes, but exports dipped 22.5% to 3.8 million tonnes. Industry analysts say cement demand was strong in January and February 2016 despite the winter, and is expected to grow further from this month onwards. In February 2016, sales were up 25.06% with domestic sales at

Tanzania’s government and Tanga Cement Co (TCCL) are in discussion over the usage of the Tanga-Moshi railway line. TCCL is keen to use the railway line to transport goods to Arusha, and the company has previously stated it will use rail for transporting 35,000tonnes of cement, thus minimising damage on the local road network.

The Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has reportedly approved foreign direct investments (FDIs) of US$1.45 billion from India's Reliance Cement, Nigeria's Dangote Cement as well as China's Hongshi Holdings Group (Hongshi) and Huaxin Cement to build cement plants with total daily capacity of 2,200tonnes.

Hongshi is partnering with Shivam Cement of India to build a cement plant with 6,000tonnes/day capacity. Construction is scheduled to start in January 2017, with production getting underway in 2019. Hongsh

The Estonian Ministry of the Environment has issued a statement of assurance that national mineral construction-grade mineral resources will be supplied to major national infrastructure building projects over the period 2016-2025. The statement is in response to the National Road Administration concerns over the supply of mineral rock resources in Harju county and elsewhere to Rail Baltica and road building projects. The Ministry confirmed that mineral resources registered include 249 million m³ of limeston

Cemex is providing 18,000m³ of ready-mixed concrete, out of an overall 24,000m³, for the new Draguignan jail in southeastern France.

Vinci Construction France is currently constructing the new facility, and the concretes elaborated by Cemex are said to comply to the requests of the Archi 5 Prod architecture cabinet. The jail includes three living quarters and two additional buildings.

The Italian competition authority has decided not to launch an investigation into the acquisition of a business unit of Sacci, the Italian cement company, by peer company Cementir Italia. As a result, the operation can now go ahead. Sacci's plan was due to be submitted to the creditors' scrutiny at a court hearing being held today (14 March 2016).

Egyptian company Orascom Construction has won two contracts in Algeria worth a combined value of US$180 million. It is reported that the main contract deals with civil engineering works on the Laghouat cement plant, a project which FLSmidth will manage. Orascom Construction will be the subcontractor of the globally-renowned Danish group. The Orascom share in this project is said to be close to $140 million.

The Financial Express of India has reported sources saying that Indian cement producers including Piramal Group and JSW as well as foreign cement firms such as CRH, Heidelberg Cement and Votorantim Group of Brazil are likely to have submitted expressions of interest (EoI) to bid for Lafarge India's assets.

Private equity funds including Blackstone and KKR are also likely to be among list of bidders to acquire Lafarge India's 10.75 million tonne capacity business, reports the online business newspaper. Th

Sandvik Mining and Schenck Process have signed a global partnership to provide increased screen processing and cone crusher capacity.

“The partnership provides increased crushing circuit productivity for Schenck Process double and single deck high capacity multi-slope screens and Sandvik high productivity cone crushers," Sandvik, says.

"It also enables a single service provider approach to support customers throughout the entire plant life cycle.”

The new co-operation between the two companies bri

Breedon Aggregates has posted record results for 2015, but senior company figures say an “exciting new era” for the company in 2016 is accompanied by concern that the EU referendum could have an adverse effect on growth, with “increasing concern” also apparent over global growth being hit by the Chinese economy.

A leading UK-based producer of aggregates, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete for builders, Breedon said its pre-tax profits in the year to December 31 rose 46.4% to £31.3 million (€40.4 million) w

Italian testing equipment company Controls has moved its headquarters after 30 years at its historic base at Cernusco sul Naviglio, Milan, which can no longer meet the growing productive needs of the company. The company, which has seven branches and more than 4,000 products for the construction industry in three business areas, has a new plant in Liscate, a small town in a logistically strategic position, just 17km from the centre of Milan and at the intersection of two major new motorway networks. Among i

Drilling rig maintenance and customisation specialist Euro Repair is expanding its services by taking its engineers into the field. The Mansfield, county Nottinghamshire, England-based company is launching a new mobile repair service for drilling rigs, plant and machinery, that will work across the country. “The mobile service is a significant investment, but means that we can better meet the needs of our clients,” says Jeremy Moore, the company’s managing director.
“Downtime for a rig or other plant machi

Level measuring specialists Hycontrol have designed and installed a multi-point bitumen level measuring and overfill protection system for Aggregate Industries at their Express Asphalt plant at Botley, near Southampton, England.

The system, utilising microwave and capacitive technologies, has been fitted to four 36.5tonne tanks containing hot bitumen, replacing the existing ‘cat and mouse’ level system. This out-of-date mechanical arrangement, based on pulleys and counterweights, was becoming increasingl