Ash Grove, Alamo team up on Houston terminal expansion

Ash Grove Cement Co. and San Antonio-based Alamo Cement Co. have announced a venture to build a Port of Houston cement terminal with annual throughput capacity of 1.5Mt. The venture will add a 100,000t terminal, scheduled for completion in the spring of 2006, to an existing Ash Grove facility with 1 million-mtpy throughput. Sales from the terminal will be managed separately by Ash Grove and Alamo to their respective customers.

The venture represents a new partnership in Texas for Ash Grove. The company had held a 50 percent stake in the Port of Houston property and the 900,000-tpy North Texas Cement Co. (Midlothian) plant; it assumed full ownership in January 2003 following a $125m transaction with London-based Hanson Plc. The venture marks the first distribution property outside San Antonio for Alamo Cement, which has a 1.4Mta capacity plant and is one of the U.S. cement industry’s original producers.