Equipment delivery for Otavi Cement Plant, Namibia

Equipment delivery for Otavi Cement Plant, Namibia
06 November 2009


The Ohorongo cement factory has received a kiln and two mill cylinders for the cement plant, which is being constructed on the Farm Sargberg north of Otavi.

Due to the huge dimensions of the shipment, the mills and kiln were moved with abnormal permits under Police escort from Walvis Bay to the Ohorongo construction site recently.

The consignment required the deployment of nine trucks, with a combined load of over 470t.

The kiln had to be transported in sections weighing 42t each. The combined weight of the two mills exceeds 160t and each mill is 15.5m long and has a diameter of 5m.

Hans-Wilhelm Schutte, MD of Ohorongo Cement, said: "This is a critical stage in the construction of our plant. With the kiln and mill cylinders arriving, we are a significant step closer to the first bag of cement produced by Ohorongo Cement."

To date, 1925t of equipment and materials have been offloaded at the Walvis Bay port. Besides the kiln and mill cylinders, most of the material was transported in containers to Sargberg via road, and 35 containers have been delivered to the construction site to date.

"In terms of machinery and structural steel we will ship 13,000t until completion and we are not even talking of the 550km of cables, consignments of bulk cement and various other materials that are to be shipped to site," said Ohorongo Cement project manager Andreas Hamm.

"A significant part of the machinery to be installed at the plant is imported from Europe. We simply want to have a plant with top European technology and standards."

The Ohorongo cement plant will start production by the end of 2010, beginning 2011. Employing about 300 people, the plant will have the capacity to produce 4 400 bags of cement per hour.
Published under Cement News