International Cement 2000 So. Carolina Tours Set Attendees of this year's Cement Americas' International Cement 2000, Dec. 3-6 at the Charleston Area Convention Center in Charleston, S.C., will be able to tour two of the east coast's most impressive cement plants and one of the industry's newest import facilities.

On December 6, buses will leave the convention center to visit Blue Circle's Harleyville operation, which recently completed a major capacity-expansion project bringing its annual production capacity to about 760,000 tons. The tour continues on to the nearby Holnam Inc.'s Holly Hill plant, a 980,000-tpy, wet-process operation that will be in the midst of an upgrade that will boost its output potential to nearly 2 million tpy.

Following the Holly Hill visit, attendees will return to Charleston to visit the brand new Blue Circle Port of Charleston deep-water import operation, said to be one of the largest domed facilities in the world, with 90,000 tons of storage capacity.

The October and November issues of Cement Americas will have all the details concerning the speaker program and exhibitors at International Cement 2000. For more information on attending or exhibiting at the conference, see listing on p. 16.

St. Lawrence plans major environmental overhaul St. Lawrence Cement has submitted an air permit application for pre-construction approval with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation proposing to install first-in-the-world emission control technology at its Greenport, N.Y. facility.

The proposed control system would distinguish the Greenport facility by providing safeguards to control air emissions, reducing emissions over present levels at Catskill, even given the three-fold increase in production of Greenport over Catskill.

Based on the opening of the Greenport facility and ceasing clinker production at the company's Catskill, N.Y. plant, the air emissions plan showcases: 50% reduction of sulfur oxides; duel scrubbers (one dry, one wet); 5-stage preheater/precalciner kiln; baghouse filters; and negligible increase (less than 1%) in NOx.

Cemex announces e-business investment Cemex announced it has become the sole seed investor in Miami-based PuntoCom Holdings (PCH), a Latin American e-business development accelerator, as part of its broad Internet and e-business strategy. The capital committed to PCH is US$20 million.

As part of this initiative, Cemex is also investing US$30 million in PuntoCom Investments (PCI), a Delaware-based venture fund which will make investments in Latin American e-businesses.

Cemex owns 100% of the capital of PCI and the fund has the right to co-invest in PCH portfolio companies.

Lafarge signs agreement with Ispat Island Lafarge Corp. has signed an agreement with Ispat Island Inc. to manage as much as 1 million tpy of blast furnace slag.

Lafarge will invest up to US$27 million to install slag processing equipment adjacent to the No. 7 iron blast furnace at Ispat Island's East Chicago, Ind., steel plant.

Scheduled to come on-line in the spring of 2001, the facility will include Lafarge-patented technology for processing the slag that exits the blast furnace.

Lafarge plans to sell the processed slag in several core market segments, including concrete road paving, ready-mixed concrete, and as a lightweight aggregate for concrete product manufacturers. Lafarge will be able to supply the new product to customers throughout the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin.

Loma Negra introduces steel dome to Argentina A steel dome, the first of its kind in Argentina, is being constructed at Loma Negra Ciasa, near Buenos Aires. The structure measures 100 meter diameter and 31 meters high.

This dome, constructed by Penta Engineering, will enclose the limestone pre-blending bed, and was purchased from Geometrica to control dust emissions and protect the materials from the weather.

Fabrication of the dome was completed in Mexico and shipped to Buenos Aires in December 1999. Installation was scheduled to begin in June and the dome should be completed by the fall.

Lafarge founding member of BuildNet Lafarge announced it has become a member of BuildNet's Founding Member alliance and an equity investor in BuildNet. BuildNet is a leading provider of management software to homebuilders and suppliers in the residential construction industry.

Lafarge will be a category sponsor in the interior walls and ceilings, and concrete and paving categories.

Through the agreement and a subsequent version of BuildNet's web site (www.buildnet.com), Lafarge will be able to offer its product catalogs on the BuildNet e-building exchange as well as build and manage catalog data.

GE to supply equipment to new Texas cement plant GE Industrial Systems has received a multi-million dollar order from Fuller Co., Bethlehem, Pa., to supply drive systems, electric motors, controls and power delivery equipment for a new cement plant in Midlothian, Texas.

The plant is owned by Texas Industries, Inc. (TXI), the largest cement producer in Texas. It will have the capability to produce clinker at the rate of 6,000 tons per day and is scheduled to go on-line later this year.

Study predicts growth in cement shipping, trade A new study published by Ocean Shipping Consultants Ltd. analyzes the prospects for trade structure/volume change, shipping fleet developments, and freight rate movements through 2010.

The 147-page, US$985 report, entitled Cement Shipping and Trade to 2010, says that the next decade is set to see further large-scale changes, as significant development occurs within the world trade structure overall, and on associated volumes on individual routes.

While considerable growth has been recorded for North America, up more than 10 million mt, and Africa, up more than 1 million mt, large-scale import decline has been recorded in Asia.

North American exports represent about 5% of world trade (mainly Canada-U.S. movements) and imports account for 26% of all trade. A similar imbalance is noted for Africa, accounting for 3% of world exports and almost 16% of imports.

Floating cement import terminals have played a significant role in international cement trade over the past 15 years. Of the total 28 existing units, four are currently idle and five are operating as traditional cement carriers. Egypt remains the largest single source of demand, with four units. There are three facilities in the U.S. and three in Central and South America.

The main expected development, according to the study, is a decline in import volumes for North America after the recent large-scale expansion.

The analysis of cement trade development implicates higher levels of cement shipping demand in the forward period. While overall cement trade is expected to be 3 million mt (just under 3%) higher in 2005 and almost 14 million mt (12.5%) higher in 2010 than 1999, seaborne trade levels are expected to rise more dramatically-more than 15 million mt (almost 19.5%) in the overall study period.

To order the report, contact:

Study Sales Dept.

Ocean Shipping Consultants Ltd

Ocean House, 60 Guildford St.

Chertsey, Surrey KT16 9BE, England

telephone: (+44)1932 560322

fax: (+44)1932 567084

e-mail: oceanshipping@compuserve.com