Holcim Moves on Major Cement Plant Expansions in the U.S.

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). After more than eight years of planning, engineering, and litigation, Holcim Limited (SWX:CHF)(Jona, Switzerland), the ultimate owner of Saint Lawrence Cement LLC, has finally thrown in the towel on a planned $300 million grassroot cement plant on the banks of the Hudson River in New York. Industrialinfo.com had been tracking this project since the company first began planning in 1998, as part of its North American Industrial Database. The project had been the focus of an intensive federal, state, and local environmental permitting and review processes and recently failed to receive certification from the New York State Department of State, which led to a decision by Holcim to cancel the project.

The two million ton per year Greenport project was to have replaced an existing cement plant in Catskill, New York. Holcim has announced that it will embark on a $10 million program to improve Catskill operations. In addition to the 600,000 ton per day Catskill plant, Saint Lawrence Cement LLC also operates cement plants in Joliette, Quebec; Hagerstown, Maryland; Mississauga, Ontario; and a slag grinding plant in Camden, New Jersey.

Holcim's North American expansion plans are not limited to the Greenport project. The company is waiting for final approval to begin construction of what is to become its flagship North American operation and one of the world's largest cement plants in Missouri. The $600 million project includes a river harbor and barge unloading/loading capabilities, a limestone quarry, and a 4.4 million ton per year cement plant. Late last year, the company announced it would select a Design-Build contractor for the entire project in early 2005. Those plans have changed, as the company is now looking to release multiple contracts for the massive construction project, including the equipment supply contract, which should be awarded in about two months.

Concurrent with the equipment supply contract will be the excavation and harbor construction contract, which involves the excavation of between 5.5 and 6.5 million cubic yards of earth. Holcim hopes to be able to begin construction in the third to fourth quarter of 2005. Installation and construction of the main cement process line will be awarded to a general contractor by the second quarter of 2006. The plant should be up and running by early 2009. In addition to the Saint Lawrence Cement plants, Holcim operates fourteen additional cement plants in the U.S.

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