#NewTerminal - Ecocem Ireland, manufacturer of high performance low carbon cement, upped their export capacity with the official opening in the UK last week of a second bulk Import terminal in Sheerness, the Port of Medway.

The new facility in Kent according to Peel Ports Group, will assist the Irish company to capitalise on the potential to supply the London / south east construction market and is Ecocem Ireland’s second Bulk Import facility in the UK following the opening in Runcorn on the Manchester Ship Canal in early 2016. See related Runcorn report as previously featured on Afloat. 

Ecocem Ireland are a subsidiary of Irish company Ecocem Materials, Europe’s largest independent manufacturer of high performance, low carbon cement. 

The import terminal in Sheerness required an investment of £2.5 Million (approximately €2.9 Million) which will see the firm being able to supply the market with 250,000 tonnes of the low carbon cement alternative per annum. This is part of the overall Ecocem Materials Strategy to develop export markets from its existing facilities in Ireland, Holland and France.

Micheál McKittrick, Managing Director of Ecocem Ireland commented: “Our second investment into the UK in a state of the art import facility demonstrates to the market the need for the low carbon cement alternative and the growing demand from the UK construction industry. We have already engaged in long term agreements with major concrete manufacturers in the UK and will continue to build momentum in the coming months”.

Ecocem’s cement is the Best Available Technology for minimising the environmental impact of concrete, whilst maximising its technical performance. This technology is used widely in Ireland and the UK in projects such as the AVIVA Stadium in Dublin and the Shard in London.

As the UK seeks to reduce its carbon footprint, coal fired power stations are either being shut down or switching to biomass fuel. The challenges facing the UK steel Industry have been well publicised (strong sterling, cheap Chinese imports, etc...) and have resulted in the closing of some factories and a sharp reduction in output from others. These two factors have resulted in shortages in the supply of alternative binders to the concrete industry, increasing costs and lowering performance.

The UK concrete industry have long appreciated the technical superiority of using alternatives such as GGBS, and Ecocem are now in a very strong position to service this opportunity from the facilities in Runcorn and Sheerness.

Andrew Martin – Group Land & Property Directory of Peel Ports commented “We are delighted to be working with the Ecocem team to enable and support their entry into the UK market. We have been able to provide a multi-site solution that will accelerate the delivery of product as close as possible to the areas of consumption. We wish Micheál and his team the best of success for the future.

The demand for low carbon materials in Europe has never been stronger, reinforced by the historic international agreements at the recent COP 21. Ecocem’s ability to deliver a reduction of over 70% in the carbon footprint of concrete, the world’s most popular building material, means the future is bright for the Irish firm.

#Cementships - A cement cargoship due to dock in Dublin Port today from Runcorn on the Manchester Ship Canal is where until the early 1990’s Guinness imported to the UK using their own stout tankers, writes Jehan Ashmore.

That trade in transporting Guinness by custom-built ships, The Lady Patricia and Miranda Guinness were replaced by road-tankers, however the Irish connection with Runcorn remains with Ecocem. The Irish-owned company manufactures low-carbon cement products and just over a year ago they opened a new terminal in Runcorn to increase imports to a booming UK market.

An example of this Irish Sea trade is the Cemgulf (2001/3,925grt) a cement-carrier that is to berth at Dublin’s Deepwater Berth, from where Ecocem also export products across Europe. The appearance of this cement-carrier resembles somewhat that of the Guinness ship, The Lady Patricia (see photo). That been the cargo deck amidships structure that was added during conversion following removal of deck-mounted cranes.

The Cypriot flagged Cemgulf has pneumatic loading and self-discharging equipment, though the vessel launched as general cargoship Bornholm was converted in 2006. Fleetmates of Cemgulf that also call to Dublin are operated by German owner, Baltrader Capital GmbH & Co. KG of Hamburg.

On arrival of Cemgulf, the ship is to berth close to Ecocem’s production plant in Ringsend at a site on Pigeon House Road. The state of the art 8,000sqm facility manufacturers GGBS or ground granulated blastfurnace slag cement. Also located nearby at Poolbeg is the new Covanta Energy Ireland incinerator plant that yesterday took its first delivery of waste.

As regards to cement products they are supplied to a range of sectors and not just land-based but marine-engineering projects that are exposed to more severe environments. Marine projects that have used such specialist cements have included the development of the new Greystones Harbour. An example in the UK is the Redcar Sea Defence Units on the Kent coast.