Wednesday, December 9, 2015

NEW ZEALAND: Holcim dome: 22,000 tonne of cement arrives in Timaru

Holcim's $50 million cement dome at Timaru's port is set to be fired up.

The company's first Timaru-bound order, 22,000 tonnes of cement, was being unloaded from the Esperance Bay ship on PrimePort Timaru's specially-constructed No 2 wharf on Wednesday.

Holcim capital projects manager Ken Cowie said the cement order, from Kanda port in Tokyo, was the first in-bound shipment for the company in Timaru.

Cowie said the Holcim-owned Milburn Carrier II, which will ship out-bound orders from Timaru, was scheduled to arrive in port for the first time later in December.

The Milburn Carrier II's home will be Timaru and it will be berthed on the south side of the No 2 wharf.

The 30,000 tonne cement silo facility was now in its completed form and no radical changes would be made to it, Cowie said.

The bright white would not be painted with a Holcim logo and would not be allowed to be painted in any way by the community either.

But if the council or members of the public were interested in shining light displays onto it, Holcim could be open to that, Cowie said.

When the pipes installed to the top of the dome were flushed for the first time, some rusty water had stained a part of the top of the dome.

This was not likely to happen again and Holcim hoped to have it cleaned soon, Cowie said.

PrimePort chief executive Phil Melhopt said the No 2 wharf was almost completed and ownership of it had been handed over to the port by Downer.

The only main part of the project that had yet to be completed was a widening of the land end of the wharf, which would allow trucks to drive onto it, Melhopt said.

"It's good to see the vessel arriving without incident and to see it safely secured on the wharf," Melhopt said. "We're pleased to have the project 99 per cent done."

Melhopt said he understood Holcim were aiming for 18 in-bound vessels a year to Timaru.

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