Sibirsky Cement Invests 1.8 Billion Rubles to Expand Its Rolling Stock Fleet

Sibirsky Cement holding (Sibcem) invested 1.8 billion rubles to expand its rolling stock fleet. Its subsidiary KuzbassTransCement has received 145 boxcars, 346 cement hoppers and 90 dump cars [for the first time ever] during 2019. The number of Sibcem’s own covered wagons has grown 1.6 times, and the number of hoppers have grown by 20%.

KuzbassTransCement now has a total of 2,094 hoppers, 400 covered wagons and 1,745 open wagons. The rolling stock was acquired on lease terms, involving ‘Sberbank Leasing’, ‘VEB Leasing’ and ‘Alpha Leasing’.

It is vital for Sibcem to own rolling stock, mostly because of the high rental cost. The holding expects a 5-7% increase in cement consumption in 2020. Primarily in Siberia, Buryatia and Transbaikal region. According to the forecast of Vice President Alexander Cherepanov cement consumption in the region in 2019 should grow by 3.9% (up to 5.3 million tons).

Sibcem enterprises expect to produce about 3.2 million tons of cement this year, which is 3% higher than in 2018. Among those are:

• Topkinsky Cement — 2.2 million tons (a 5% increase),
• Timlyuy Cement — 374,000 tons (a 16% increase),
• Krasnoyarsk Cement — 609,300 tons (an 11% decrease).

Sibtsem has recently received the approval of the Federal Antimonopoly Service to acquire 100% of Iskitimcement and now plans to increase its share in Angarskcement to 100% during 2020.