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A high output concrete train (HOCT) to support electrification projects and general concrete demand within rail infrastructure in the UK has been developed by Nurock Mixers. The new unit is based on two Nurock NUVM7 mobile concrete batching plants, the company’s 7m³ truck-mounted unit, ten of which are in service with the British Army in several countries. The new Nurock rail unit carries all the ingredients, including sand, aggregates, cement and water unmixed in separate compartments. It then proportions

The health and safety of workers can be affected during maintenance as can a lack of maintenance or inadequate maintenance Maintenance is not the exclusive domain of fitters and mechanics. It is also the responsibility of almost all workers in every sector and is carried out in almost every working environment, says the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (http://osha.europa.eu) in its e-facts series.

Caterpillar has unveiled the first model in its new line of hybrid excavators, the Cat336E H, which will be sold and serviced exclusively through the global Cat dealer network following the machine’s official launch at bauma 2013 in Munich, Germany (15-21 April). The order board for the Cat 336E H, which uses a new hydraulic hybrid technology developed by Caterpillar, opens in February 2013, with factory shipments beginning in March 2013. “A hybrid is independent of any particular technology: it doesn’t hav

Tsurumi Europe has acquired its Spanish and Portuguese dealerships, giving the company direct access to customers in these two markets. The two dealerships will continue to operate under their current names but will be wholly-owned subsidiaries of Tsurumi, and the deal marks the latest dealership acquisition from Tsurumi, which currently operates directly in France, Sweden and Germany. The company now offers direct sales in five countries.
The takeover of Hydreutes, the Spanish dealership, and Hidrovento,

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) supported Cambridge University Freshers’ Fair by running a well-received Cycle Safe event as part of its national campaign to promote cycle safety. Hanson UK supported the event, providing a cement tanker for the safety demonstration. Over 100 cyclists, including students and members of the public, got into the vehicle to watch the demonstration with a bicycle and find out where to position themselves safely on the road when cycling in relation to large goods vehicles

The UK Mineral Products Association (MPA) is calling on government to overcome inertia in the planning system, in order to ensure a steady and adequate supply of aggregates, which is essential to the construction industry and the economy. This is the conclusion of MPA’s new Annual Mineral Planning Survey (AMPS) for 2010, which highlights that the plan-led system is failing to free up sufficient land for extraction, meaning that adequate reserves of materials might not be available when needed to fuel econom

A UK contractor has bought 13 new JCB machines after securing some of the largest groundwork’s projects of 2012 in the Midlands region of England. County Worcestershire-based PGC Contractors has taken delivery of six JS130 tracked excavators; two JS 220 tracked excavators and five 3CX Sitemaster backhoe loaders, and put several straight to work on site, including a site at Oldbury, West Midlands, where VINCI Construction UK is to build a new plant for Chinook Sciences and Innovative Environmental Solutions

Terex Finlay’s new J-1170 high performance primary mobile jaw crusher is built around the renowned and aggressive Terex 1,100mm x 700mm jaw crusher. The company says that with a proven track record in recycling, aggregate production and mining applications, the jaw chamber provides “excellent material reduction and product sizing in the processing of blasted quarry rock and ore material,” while the Terex 1,100mm x 700mm jaw chamber is also available with optional hydraulic release, an excellent feature when

Land Engineering Services (L.E.S) has bought four of Bell Equipment’s flagship B50D articulated dump trucks.
The trucks will haul overburden at a former open-cast colliery in Scotland, and the deal represents the first venture into Bell ADTs by the Wakefield, County Yorkshire, England-based land restoration and surface mining specialist.
All four trucks are at work at Comrie Colliery, in Fife, which is currently undergoing a massive reclamation scheme.
The operation involves work in varied terrain and o

Spanish construction company, FCC, is to award its cement subsidiary, Portland Valderrivas, a €100 million loan after the cement company postponed its planned €100 million capital increase due to current market conditions.
Portland Valderrivas may carry out the capital increase in 2013 if market conditions improve. The operation is part of an agreement with 31 creditor banks to refinance its €1.48 billion long-term debt. The refinancing plan includes a bond issue in the US to refinance the debt of its US

The Estonian government is rushing to hike excavation fees to improve the budgetary revenue intake by €34 million by 2015. The Ministry of the Environment confirmed in September 2012 that excavation fees are fixed through to 2015 by the government decision from 2009, although the Ministry consented to the unexpected rise in excavation fees, approved by the government, to take effect as of 1 April,2013. Excavating companies (peat, sand, gravel, and other) claim the unexpected rise in fees is a major setback

Ground engineering and rock drilling specialist, Skelair International, has appointed Steve Lashley as operations supervisor for its contract drilling and blasting division. The Holmes Chapel, County Cheshire, north-west England-based company recruited Lashley from Bam Ritchies where he gained over 20 years’ experience across the full range of quarry operations. Taking over six permanent sites and regular project assignments from clients such as the Forestry Commission, he will also be responsible for drivi

The growth in the construction market worldwide is giving rise to a surge in demand for concrete products, concrete pipes and shafts as well as precast components. This demand is in turn boosting developments among the manufacturers of the machinery and plant that is used to produce these components, say the organisers of bauma 2013. At the event, being held in Munich, Germany, from 15-21 April, 2013, a range of new products made of concrete and other materials will be on show at the booths of systems suppl

Caterpillar has shipped the 500th D7E Track-Type Tractor from the company’s East Peoria, Illinois facility.
The Cat D7E features “a first-of-its-kind electric drive system” which is said to boost productivity and efficiency while lowering operating costs and reducing fuel consumption. D7E dozers are at work in a wide range of applications throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Pre-production studies suggested that the D7E would provide 10-30% better fuel economy over the previous D7 model, depend

Superior Industries, which claims to be North America’s only combination manufacturer of conveyor systems and their related accessories, has completed expansion of its existing manufacturing plant in Prescott Valley, Arizona. The increase allows the company to begin building idlers, pulleys and other conveyor components from an additional location besides its home plant in Morris, Minnesota. The company says that expanding the plant, which lies on one of three Superior American manufacturing campuses, allow

Italian cement manufacturer Italcementi has said that its production output will not be interrupted during the ten days in which it has to bring its plant in Colleferro, Lazio, into line with atmospheric emissions legislation as ordered a by a court. The company stressed that the emission caused by the production of cement, the plant's main source of emissions, is well below legal limits and is continuously monitored. The Collferro plant was temporarily shut on 11 October, 2012, due to excessive atmospheric

Lafarge has marked its tenth year of sustainability reporting in the UK with the release of its 2011/2012 Sustainability Reports. The company says that with a commitment to sustainability remaining at the heart of the business, it has made significant investment in developing its sustainable credentials, and this has paid dividends, particularly with waste and water consumption being cut by 92%and 88% respectively in the cement business, since reporting began in 2001. The latest reports are said to also sho

CEMEX’s consolidated net sales reached US$3.9 billion (€3 billion) during the third quarter of 2012, an increase of 2% on a like-to-like basis for the ongoing operations and adjusting for currency fluctuations, versus the comparable period in 2011. The company says this was due to higher prices in local currency terms in most of its regions, while operating EBITDA increased by 9% during the quarter to US$730 million versus the same period in 2011, and on a like-to-like basis it increased by 13% in the same

Northern Ireland-based Ballyvesey Holdings has purchased Plantlink, the Merseyside-based, north-west England dealer for the Doosan Heavy range of construction plant and equipment. Plantlink, based in Rainford, holds the regional distributorship for the Doosan Heavy range including crawler and wheeled excavators, wheeled loaders, articulated dump trucks, heavy duty telehandlers and attachments to customers across north-west England, North Wales, County Lancashire, County Cheshire and Merseyside. Following t

Holcim is to close its cement factory in the northern Hungarian city of Labatlan by next year, communications director of Holcim Hungaria, Iren Marta is reported to have told local press. According to reports in MTI, Holcim originally planned to wind up the 144-year-old plant by 2010, but its lifetime had since been extended by environment-friendly investments of almost HUF500 million (about €1.78 million) to 2016. However, the downturn of Hungary's construction industry has now made closing unavoidable, Ms