Lehigh, Glens Falls form joint venture In April 1999, Lehigh Portland Cement Co. of Allentown, Pa., entered into a 50/50 joint-venture partnership with Glens Falls Cement Co. The new entity, Glens Falls Lehigh Cement Co., consists of the entire Glens Falls company-one 550,000-tpy-capacity, dry-process plant in Glens Falls, N.Y., as well as terminals in Howes Cave, N.Y. and Wilmington, Mass.-and two terminals owned by Lehigh Portland Cement, the Cementon terminal in Catskill, N.Y. and another in Providence, R.I. Both companies are owned by European cement giants-Glens Falls is owned by Germany's Dyckerhoff AG, while Lehigh is co-owned by Heidelberger Zement AG of Germany and Cimenteries CBR of Belgium.

Michael B. Clarke, president and CEO for the new company, said the partnership will make both companies stronger players in the Northeast. "The joint venture takes the strengths of both companies and gives us inroads into areas that we couldn't reach separately," said Clarke, who was also president and CEO of Glens Falls Cement. "We now have the ability to transport our product to places we couldn't before, as well as import cement to satisfy additional markets. The entire partnership makes us capable of being more of a competitor in these markets."

According to a Cement Americas source, the next step toward being a great competitor for the newly created Glens Falls Lehigh is to decide the most efficient way to boost its production to serve markets in New York, northern New Jersey, New England, and parts of Quebec. Among the options being considered toward achieving these goals are: increasing the capacity of the Glens Falls plant; reopening and/or rebuilding the long-dormant plant at Cementon; or constructing a greenfield plant somewhere in the region.

Lafarge to increase capacity at Missouri plant Lafarge Canada Inc. will erect a new cement production line for its Sugar Creek plant in Missouri. The production line will have a capacity of 2,600 tpd. Production start-up is scheduled for the fall of 2000. Krupp Polysius will be the supplier.

Lafarge makes several high-level executive changes Lafarge Corp.'s North American cement operations announced in late May that a handful of executive-level changes will take effect Sept. 1. These changes include:

*Peter H. Cooke, currently executive vice president of Lafarge Corp. responsible for Canadian operations, will be appointed executive vice president-cement, with responsibility for cement strategy and performance.

*Michael J. Balchunas, currently senior vice president of Lafarge Corp. and president of the company's western Canada cement operations, will become senior vice president and president of cement-U.S. Balchunas replaces Duncan S. Gage, who will become regional president for the Lafarge Group's cement and concrete activities in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

*Jean-Marc Lechene will be appointed senior vice president of Lafarge Corp. and president of cement-Canada. Lechene is presently managing director of cement and concrete operations in China for the Lafarge Group.

Lechene's appointment marks an organizational change in Lafarge's Canadian cement operations, which is currently separated into two regions. Beginning in September, the two regions will be consolidated into one with a single main office in Montreal, Quebec.

Blue Circle to add terminal in South Carolina Blue Circle Cement and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners will begin construction of an import and distribution terminal in Charleston, S.C. The new deep water terminal, located at the current Shipyard River Coal Terminal, will be one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world. Once completed, the terminal will be capable of accommodating 60,000-ton ships and storing more than 90,000 tons of cement. The facility should be completed in 2000.

The decision to undertake such a project is part of Blue Circle's objective to increase its presence in theSoutheastern markets. In 1998, the company completed the 50% capacity expansion of its Harleyville, S.C. plant.

Kinder Morgan operates 24 bulk terminal facilities, which transload more than 40 million tpy of material including cement, coke, and coal.