webcam-b

Read the Digital Magazine

Top Stories

Grid List

The new collaboration will provide a wider offering to customers across the MEA region. (Image source: Jubaili Bros)

Energy

Jubaili Bros, a leading supplier of power generation solutions and services, has collaborated with MWM, a provider of sustainable gas gensets, to provide large, gas-fuelled electrical power solutions across the Middle East and Africa

“We are excited to partner with Jubaili Bros, a trusted and respected leader in the power generation market,” said Rene Ludvik, commercial director of MWM. “This new cooperation will provide customers even better access to MWM’s highly efficient gensets and services throughout the life of our products.”

The partnership will be built around MWM’s expertise in gas engine and gas genset technology as well as the extensive engineering and aftersales network. As a result of the collaboration, Jubaili Bros will offer MWM gas generators with 42% and above efficiencies ranging from 400 to 4,500kW electrical that are suitable for a range of applications.

“We are delighted to join forces with MWM, a world-renowned leader in gas engine and genset technology, to offer our customers in the region best-in-class gas generators allied to our leading aftersales experience,” added Marcus Schumacher, group CEO of Jubaili Bros. “We have a long history of providing reliable and customised power solutions to our customers, and we are confident that this collaboration will enable us to meet the growing demand for gas powered generators in the region.”

Huaxin Cement has expressed optimism and excitement opportunity to work with Lafarge Africa and Nigeria. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Construction

Lafarge Africa has reiterated its commitment to Nigeria’s economic and infrastructure development following the recent acquisition by Huaxin Cement

The company made the announcement after Holcim agreed to sell 83.81% of its shareholding in Lafarge Africa to Huaxin Cement. This move has been labelled a “significant milestone” by Lafarge Africa, and one that heralds in a new chapter for the company to deepen its impact and reinforce its position in the West African country.

‘’This development will further solidify Lafarge Africa's position as a leading contributor to Nigeria’s infrastructure and economic growth,” remarked Gbenga Oyebode, chairman, Lafarge Africa Plc. “Nigeria’s market holds vast potential with its positive growth indices, increasing urbanisation, and infrastructure demand. We remain committed to leveraging these opportunities while maintaining our focus on sustainability and innovation.”

Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, CEO of Lafarge Africa, added, "Our journey in Nigeria for the past 65 years has been one of resilience, collaboration, and consistent growth. Our market position and long-term market potential are promising. This transition provides an opportunity for Lafarge Africa to continue growing and evolving, supported by the investment and global expertise of Huaxin Cement Ltd. We will remain steadfast, delivering value to our customers, sustaining our upward momentum, and ensuring a smooth transition for everyone.”

For its part, Huaxin Cement has expressed optimism and excitement opportunity to work with Lafarge Africa and Nigeria. Gang Xu, vice president of Huaxin Cement, commented, “Leveraging the knowledge and experience of the management and staff of the company, combined with our experience gained from the operation of more than 60 cement plants, and other businesses, in 12 countries – including 7 in Africa – we will devise plans for the further growth of Lafarge Africa. Together, we will build on the proud and long history of Lafarge Africa and will honour its legacy by bringing it to the next level of development.”

The presidents touring the Lobito Port Terminal in Angola. (Image source: US Embassy & Consulates in China)

Mining

On a historic visit to Angola, US President Joe Biden announced a direct loan to upgrade and operate the 1,300 km rail line from Lobito port to the town of Luau on the DRC border

Marking the first time an active US President has visited the African nation, President Biden celebrated the relationship between the two countries which “has been transformed from distance to genuine warmth” and that, today, “is the strongest it’s ever been.” Continuing, he remarked how a core goal of his presidency has been to build a strong partnership with peoples and nations across Africa aimed at “achieving shared goals, bringing to bear the dynamism of America’s private sector and the expertise of our government to support aspirations of African entrepreneurs, experts, leaders both inside and outside of government.”

In the two years since the President pledged to deliver US$55bn in new investments in Africa, Biden said that government agencies and members of his cabinet have delivered US$40bn so far, along with nearly 1,200 new business deals being established between African and American companies.

The USA has reportedly invested US$3bn in Angola during President Biden’s tenancy, who noted, “We see the bonds between our countries across sectors, from clean energy to healthcare to sports.”

He added that he and his Angolan counterpart are, “engaged in a major joint project to close the infrastructure gap for the benefit of Angolans, Africans across the continent, Americans and the world. We’ll all benefit… It’s called the Lobito Corridor. We’re building railroad lines from Angola to the Port of Lobito, in Zambia and the DRC, and, ultimately, all the way to the Atlantic — from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. It’ll be the first trans-continental railroad in Africa and the biggest American rail investment outside of America.”

As such, the US International Development Finance Corporation has announced a direct loan of US$553mn that will support the anchor rail investment of the first phase of the project. This will help the project to expand and protect critical mineral supply chains while increasing rail transport capacity and reducing freight transit times and costs.

This was also joined by further commitments to the country and continent including:

• A commitment to provide up to US$150mn in political risk insurance for new water treatment plants;
• US$40mn loan to help support Africa GreenCo Group’s energy aggregation and trading business;
• US$13mn equity investment to support small and medium-sized businesses in frontier markets;
• US$6mn USAID-supported loan portfolio guaranty for Angolan microcredit company Kixicrédito S.A.;
• US$5mn loan to Community Markets for Conservation Limited in Zambia to expand its food processing business;
• US$3.4mn technical assistance grant to Pensana to help develop a rare earth mine and refining facility in Angola;
• and a US$3.2mn technical assistance grant to Chillerton in support of a green copper mining project in Zambia.

Goldwind is planning to build a new green methanol factory. (Image source: Hapag-Lloyd)

Logistics

Hapag-Lloyd, a liner shipping company with a fleet of 292 modern container vessels, has reached an agreement with Goldwind, a global strategic partner in clean energy, for the delivery of green methanol

Consisting of a blend of bio- and e-methanol, 250,000 tonnes of the fuel will be supplied to Hapag-Lloyd every year which will be used to power specialist ships in its fleet including five 10,100 TEU charter ships that the company and Seaspan are converting to a suitable methanol dual-fuel propulsion system in 2026. The logistics company has also made a decision to invest in 24 new container ships with low-emission dual-fuel liquefied natural gas engines.

“As part of our Strategy 2030, we are fully committed to the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement and therefore also to sustainable investments,” remarked Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG. “With the agreement, we are securing a significant proportion of our requirements for green fuels. This will bring us an important step closer to our goal of achieving net-zero fleet operations by 2045. It is and remains our ambition to play a leading role in the transformation of the liner shipping industry.”

The green methanol supplied by Golwind will reportedly ensure a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction of at least 70% and will help Hapa-Lloyd to reduce the absolute emissions of its fleet by around one third compared to 2022. This will translate to a total save of up to 400,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions in fleet operations per year.

On the path to carbon neutrality

“We are honored to have reached this agreement with Hapag-Lloyd,” remarked Wu Gang, chairman of Goldwind. “This collaboration proves once again that Goldwind can win the trust of one of the most important shipping companies. We are grateful for the opportunity to become a strong decarbonization partner of Hapag-Lloyd, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality ahead of the shipping-industry targets and aligns closely with Goldwind’s corporate vision. Goldwind highly values this endorsement and looks forward to deepening the collaboration.”

To help support the order, Goldwind is planning to build a new green methanol factory adjacent to its existing project in Hinggan League, China. Liu Rixin, head of Goldwind Green Methanol, explained, “The planned new factory will share technology, utilities, facilities and infrastructures with its neighbouring sister plant, boosting production efficiency. It is still subject to the financial investment decision of the Goldwind Board. We anticipate the completion of a megaton green methanol base in Hinggan League in late 2027.”

Jan Christensen, senior director global fuel purchasing, concluded, “Green methanol represents a key pathway within Hapag-Lloyd’s multi-fuel strategy, underscoring our commitment to advancing more sustainable shipping solutions. This initiative is made possible through strong partnerships, and we greatly value our collaboration with Goldwind, whose expertise and shared vision are helping us make important progress toward decarbonisation.”

Geraldine Sande, channel sales leader for Schneider Electric East Africa. (Image source: Schneider Electric East Africa)

Finance

Schneider Electric East Africa, a specialist in energy management and automation, has launched an eCommerce platform

Designed to cater to a diverse market, it includes tier 2 channels and represents a step towards modernising its procurement process and reinforces the company’s market presence. This is the assessment of Geraldine Sande, channel sales leader for Schneider Electric East Africa, who commented, “With the eCommerce platform, customers can access the required products locally, conveniently, faster and at their desired location without intermediary intervention.”

The portal lists a range of products and primarily targets end users in the residential space who would often have to travel far to a distributor, and commercial customers.

Sande explained that the platform also targets ‘specifiers’ – the individuals involved in projects and those who create bills of quantities (BOQs) or requests for quotations (RFQs) and need to know the available product options, as well as companies that require reliable supply chains for maintenance and operations.

“We noticed a gap in the market in terms of brand visibility in Kenya,” Sande continued. “Many people would ask if Schneider Electric was present in Kenya because we did not have a website (the website will go live in 2025) or any formal digital footprint. Instead, customers would find our partners on other Schneider Electric subsidiary platforms. The customer would also need to have a list of partners online and thus have insight about which solution is found from which channel partner.

“Given this, we felt there was a need to utilise another vehicle to be in front of the customer whenever someone is searching for a product and ensure the product is easily accessible, aside from going through our existing distribution channels.”

Sande stressed that the new platform is not designed to erode the market share of resellers and distributors but can instead bring potential benefits to their businesses.

“From the distributor's perspective, the platform will benefit them by increasing their sell-out. Distributors often hold a lot of stock, and the e-commerce platform provides them with another avenue to reach customers they were not previously tapping into. This represents an incremental business opportunity for our distributors,” concludes Sande.

All six of the new cranes will be delivered during November and December 2024. (Image source: Condra)

Manufacturing

Cape Town-based BB Cranes has received a notable order from boatbuilders Robertson and Caine, the largest manufacturer of catamarans in the southern hemisphere and the third largest globally

Amongst the six cranes that have been ordered are two single-girder and two double-girder BB machines with 5-ton capacity, spanning 20 metres (two cranes) and 19 metres; a 10-ton double-girder machine with a span of 20 metres; and a 30-metre span, 5-ton capacity crane for the factor in Montague Gardens in Cape Town.

The latter is the crowning jewel of the order. It represents a record for the Cape Town-based company and is a direct result of a company effort to improve its capabilities. BB has steadily upgraded its capabilities and procedures at Rivergate Industrial Park since 2022, when it became a member of the Condra group. In June 2024, the company increased its factory floor area by 400 square metres.

Justifying expansion

BB will assemble all six from standard components, and fit them with twinned short-headroom Condra hoists – two per crane. There will be variable-speed drives on the long- and cross-travels for precise boat positioning.

A BB Cranes spokesman explained that three of the six cranes would be manufactured simultaneously with two other wide-span machines ordered by Rovic, an independent agricultural machinery manufacturer that commissioned three double-girder overhead cranes in the first half of 2024, two of them designed with 28-metre spans just two metres shy of BB’s new 30-metre record.

“Our crane spans are usually anything between 18 and 25 metres, so we see the 28-metre-span machines for Rovic – and especially the 30-metre span crane for Robertson and Caine – as justifying our decision to expand BB’s capabilities and increase our factory floor space,” the spokesman added.

“All of these cranes represent turnkey deliveries from design through to installation. For us, they are affirmation of BB’s decision to grow.”

Automation on the rise

Robertson and Caine has been BB Cranes’ customer for twenty years. Current work for the boatbuilders includes partial on-site automation of a 16-ton crane used in repetitive applications, control of which will be reduced to the single push of one button to accelerate production and improve productivity.

The BB Cranes spokesman explained that the number of enquiries for automated cranes was increasing. “We offer automation across our product range, working in collaboration with Condra’s design office,” he surmised. “Condra is accumulating automation experience, and is currently automating a crane for use in wrap-and-protect operations in Gauteng. We hope to see more automated cranes among our customers here in Cape Town.”

Most Read

Latest news