Australian cement shortage relief to put building on track

Australian cement shortage relief to put building on track
09 May 2008


North Queenslands sole cement supplier, Cement Australia, says supplies should be back to normal by mid-May.
 
Builders throughout the north have been forced to postpone projects and some have had to lay off workers because of the shortage of cement.
 
Cement Australia said flooding at its Gladstone plant early in the year coupled with the high demand from a booming construction industry, had caused the shortage.
 
These were compounded by problems with one of our supply ships causing unforeseen delays, the companys general manager of marketing and sales, Colin Zeitlyn, said yesterday.
 
Mr Zeitlyn said shipments of about 60,000t of cement would arrive this month, alleviating the constraints that have forced concrete suppliers to ration deliveries.
 
Builders large and small have been hit by the shortage and there has been a knock-on effect in other areas of the building industry.
 
A company spokesman said the scheduled shipments which included some powder sourced from overseas and the return to full production at Gladstone, should see supplies guaranteed until the end of the year.
 
New production facilities at Gladstone are scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
 
Published under Cement News