As part of its strategic growth plan, CEVA Logistics has announced announced today that it has closed the acquisition of Spedag Interfreight, an international freight forwarding expert covering several countries in East Africa.

The announcement comes after finalizing all customary closing conditions, including receiving regulatory approvals by relevant authorities. CEVA purchased the logistics entity from the M+R Spedag Group, a family-owned transport and logistics company headquartered in Switzerland.

Local expert in freight forwarding, key industries

Spedag Interfreight is one of the most competent and reliable logistics providers in East Africa with dedicated industry teams possessing leading expertise in relevant market verticals including energy and infrastructure, aid and relief, oil and gas, and commodities. Approximately 400 employees at 24 locations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan have joined CEVA as a result of the transaction’s closing.

CEVA extends global reach, local know-how

CEVA Logistics remains committed to a “think global, act local” growth strategy by adding Spedag Interfreight’s local market understanding to CEVA’s leading global network. The acquisition further supports CEVA’s global end-to-end logistics capabilities. CEVA Logistics is now present in 44 countries in Africa.

The company’s ambition is to make the African market account for a significant share of its revenue by 2025, and Spedag Interfreight will open new opportunities to the growth potential in East Africa. For example, Kenya acts as a key maritime gateway for East Africa. Through a recent expansion and modernization project, the port of Mombasa is expected to move more than 1.7 million TEUs in 2023. The Kenya Ports Authority expects the port to handle 47 million tonnes of cargo by 2032—a 57 percent increase from current levels.

Strategic development, growth ongoing

CEVA continues to implement its strategic growth plan under the vision of the CMA CGM Group. With the Group’s support, CEVA welcomed more than 20,000 new employees through acquisitions of Ingram Micro’s former Commerce & Lifecycle Services business and Colis Privé, France’s leading private last mile provider.

In addition, the CMA CGM Group announced in April that it had signed an agreement to purchase nearly 100% of the capital of GEFCO, the European leader in automotive logistics and an international expert in multimodal supply chain solutions. The European Commission authorized the Group to acquire the capital of GEFCO immediately, pending the final approval.

Mathieu Friedberg, chief executive officer, CEVA Logistics, says “With the addition of Spedag Interfreight in East Africa, we are continuing to execute key regional initiatives in our strategic growth plan. This acquisition is the perfect follow-on to our organic growth and M&A activity in Africa over the past two years, as well as the recent acquisitions of Ingram Micro CLS and Colis Privé. Our global scale allows us to offer a wide range of responsive logistics solutions thanks to our experienced local teams.

The successful collaboration between SKF Power Transmission Components and SKF Training Solutions has resulted in the delivery of an integrated, fully customised customer solution.

The customer, who is a leading fan manufacturer specialising in mining ventilation, needed a customised disc coupling for a large fan and reached out to SKF for assistance.

Micaela Willers, SKF Product Manager: Power Transmission, explains that the project presented the team with several challenges. “In addition to the coupling requiring a non-standard tolerance, the customer also asked for a plug-and-play solution as the unit will be exported for fitting on to a 2.0m diameter fan that operates in a secluded mine.”

The SKF Power Transmission Components team specified the correct disc coupling and presented the technical capabilities and expertise required to develop a customised solution to meet this specific application. SKF secured the order and due to the coupling’s excellent quality-price competitive value, the customer decided to purchase a second coupling.

Coupling installation is scheduled for November 2023. “As this particular coupling is extremely rare in the market, we wanted to add further value for our customer,” continues Micaela. SKF Training Solutions stepped in, offering Precision Shaft Alignment training to help up-skill their artisans and service agents, they are able to install their couplings correctly.”

The customer is further looking to invest in Dynamic Balancing training and is also very keen on buying SKF’s quality Mapro products that were demonstrated during the training courses.

“This projected presented us with a wonderful opportunity to showcase SKF’s integrated solutions. A power transmission order lead to a training opportunity which generated a MAPRO enquiry, ultimately resulting in the original order quadrupling in value in only three months!” concludes Micaela.

/ends/

SKF is a world-leading provider of innovative solutions that help industries become more competitive and sustainable. By making products lighter, more efficient, longer lasting, and repairable, we help our customers improve their rotating equipment performance and reduce their environmental impact. Our offering around the rotating shaft includes bearings, seals, lubrication management, condition monitoring, and services. Founded in 1907, SKF is represented in approximately 129 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2022 were SEK 96,933 million and the number of employees was 42,641. www.skf.com

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.

For further information, please contact:

Samantha Joubert, Marketing Manager

Tel: +27 (0) 11 821 3602 / Fax: +27 (0) 86 681 4342

samantha.joubert@skf.com

A process plant at a gold mine in Ghana has become the first in Africa to install WEG’s fully withdrawable WEG CCM06 boards, which safely improve the plant’s flexibility when isolating selected circuits for maintenance and repair.

“The customer’s existing motor control centre (MCC) regulated many operations, which all had to be shut down when attending to a single item of equipment,” says Foster Yeboah, regional sales manager for West Africa based at Zest WEG’s Ghana branch. “This led to significant downtime, which the customer wanted to avoid.”

The mine required a solution which would allow the plant to isolate the electrical feed to specific equipment, allowing targeted maintenance to be conducted on those items without necessitating a complete plant shutdown, says Yeboah. The answer came in the form of a double containerized electrical house or E-house with a key element of this solution being the fully withdrawable boards.

Plant’s efficiency

“The WEG CCM06 boards are compartmentalized functional units which can be turned off and pulled out, without affecting the power to the other units,” he explains. “This is a valuable feature when considering that important equipment such as mills and discharge pumps must ideally operate continuously to keep the plant efficient.”

Already a force to be reckoned with in the African power generation sector, Steinmüller Africa has taken its service delivery offering to the next level with its plant and equipment hire services.

Through its Middelburg Depot, the company has expanded its plant and equipment hire services, now offering a pool of over 24 000 items for clients in the power generation, petrochemical, chemical, mining, renewable energy, pulp and paper and general Industrial sectors. To date the Middelburg Depot has handled plant projects in Sasolburg, Rustenburg, Newcastle, Richards Bay and Eskom power stations in Mpumalanga.

The plant hire division boasts a comprehensive range of equipment consisting of cranes, trailers, tractors, welding machines, generators, rigging, grinding and drilling equipment. “Through this depot, we are showing our commitment to supply our clients the best equipment for their project requirements, With this hire solution, they can get their projects up and running quicker while mitigating equipment ownership costs,” said Mpho

Muvhango, Corporate Communications Specialist at Steinmüller Africa. Muvhango added that the company also offers expert advice to their clients on equipment selection: “We are committed to giving our clients the best quality customer service and ensuring that our high standards are upheld in all that we offer. Our team assesses our clients’ projects and their intended outcomes to provide them with a comprehensive solution,” she said.

Handling sticky material in mining and minerals processing plants can be a complex challenge. These materials can cause blockages, equipment wear and increased maintenance requirements, leading to reduced efficiency and increased operational costs.

This is according to Alwin Nienaber, Technical Director at Weba Chute Systems, who says that designing transfer points to effectively handle sticky materials is crucial for optimising material flow and minimizing downtime. “There are a number of key design considerations for transfer points and it is for this reason that EPCM contractors and end-users should work closely with specialist companies such as ourselves who have the requisite expertise and legacy knowledge to deal with complicated materials transfer.”

An important consideration is material flow control, which Nienaber explains is crucial to avoid blockages and build-up of sticky materials within chute systems. “This is where chute geometry plays a significant role in handling sticky materials, with experience informing the design of a chute to minimise impact forces and reduce material degradation. Minimising is also important, and this can be achieved through the use of wear-resistant materials such as ceramic tiles or rubber linings, and further extend the service life of transfer points while reducing maintenance requirements,” he says.

Tackling sticky situations

Nienaber says it is also important to control moisture levels when handling sticky materials. Excessive moisture can exacerbate the stickiness of materials, leading to increased build-up and blockages. Implementing moisture control strategies, such as proper drainage systems, dust suppression or material conditioning systems, can help maintain optimal moisture levels and improve material flow.

WEC Projects, a local EPC contractor working in the water and wastewater treatment sector, has completed the design, engineering and supply of new sewage treatment plants for three different developments in Ghana – two hospitals and an apartment complex. All three projects integrate biological trickle filtration systems.

The treatment plants will be installed at the Kumawu District Hospital, a new medical facility being built in the Sekyere Kumawu District, and the Fomena District Hospital, also a new facility located in the Adansi North District.

WEC Projects is supplying the Model E trickle filter plant for both hospitals, designed to treat an average of 90m 3 per day. Raw sewage is fed into the plant’s screenings box before arriving at the three-chamber below ground septic tank where anaerobic pre-treatment takes place. The wastewater then flows into a recycle sump equipped with vortex pumps with a transfer rate of 25m 3 per hour across the trickle filter.

Process

The trickle filter itself is housed in two above-ground double stacked 12m containers. The wastewater flows down through trickling filter media on the surface of which propagates the biofilm used to breakdown COD and nitrify the wastewater. The wastewater is collected in a basin at the bottom of the packing media and transferred to the clarifier. A splitter box returns some of the wastewater to the trickle filter to ensure a continuous flow through the bioreactor. Phosphorous is removed from the wastewater by introducing ferric chloride to the clarifier. The water then undergoes disinfection using chlorine to meet the required effluent standards before being discharged into the environment.

All process control instrumentation and electrics are housed in a six-metre shipping container and the self-contained plants are fully fabricated in South Africa. The apartment complex, located in the coastal city of Sekondi-Takoradi, is a smaller system with a current flow rate of 16m 3 per day of effluent which will increase once it reaches its peak flow rate. It features a trickle filter system similar to those of the two hospitals, although on a smaller scale, in a standalone tower. The plant will treat domestic wastewater and has been designed to blend into the aesthetics and colour of the apartment complex design as well as to reduce its overall footprint and to avoid contact with nearby overhead power lines.

Says Ashly Forster, Project Manager at WEC Projects, “As these are new plants, the initial flow rate of untreated sewage will be low due to the low occupancy. This will build up over a short time, allowing the plants to operate more effectively as the biofilm begins to propagate.”

“A five-person team from WEC Projects oversaw the installation of the plants and provided training to operators during the commissioning stage. Trickle tower technology was chosen for these projects due to its scalability, low maintenance, operating requirements and simple design. A single operator can oversee and control the plant which is extremely reliable with a long operating lifespan. Ensuring that these plants remain operating efficiently is particularly important in order to ensure that no untreated wastewater enters the environment.” Adds Forster, “Our WEC Assist division will offer to provide operations and maintenance where necessary as well as chemicals, consumables and spares when required.”

TOMRA Mining’s unique experience in the design and installation of large-scale ore sorting plants and its collaborative approach was the key to the successful design of the world’s largest lithium sorting plant. The installation has already started and is expected to reach completion in late 2023.

Pilbara Minerals owns the world’s largest, independent hard-rock lithium mine. It is located in Western Australia and produces a spodumene and tantalite concentrate. By pursuing a growth strategy to become a sustainable, low-cost lithium producer, the company has become a major player in the rapidly growing lithium supply chain. This investment will ensure the expansion of its large-scale operation in order to meet the increasing demand for lithium driven by sustainable energy technologies such as electric vehicles and energy storage.

“This new facility to be constructed at our Pilgangoora Project will be the world’s largest lithium mineral ore sorting plant. TOMRA’s experience in large global sorting installations, innovative technology, and ability to provide local support were significant factors in our decision to work with them. From the start, the TOMRA team has been working side by side with us and our engineering partner DRA Global to deliver this important project” Dale Henderson, Managing Director and CEO, Pilbara Minerals

Processing contaminated ore: a key challenge for the lithium industry

As part of this expansion project, Pilbara Minerals turned to TOMRA Mining for assistance to address the key industry challenge in the processing of spodumene feed ore contaminated with barren host rock. TOMRA has 50 years’ experience in sensor-based sorting technologies and has designed and built 90% of the world’s large-scale mining sorting plants with a capacity above 300t/h. These include plants such as the Ma’aden Umm Wu’al project, which is operating at 1850t/h, or the Lucara diamond operation which runs 15 sorters. Specifically for the Pilbara Minerals project, TOMRA Mining offers effective ore sorting solutions with high sensor resolution and ejection accuracy that ensure high lithium recovery and waste removal with a stable and consistent performance at high capacity.

SKF LGGB 2 is a biodegradable, low toxicity, synthetic ester, oil-based grease that has been specially formulated to suit any application where there is the potential of environmental contamination.

During the equipment lubrication process, it is not always possible to prevent some grease from leaking. “In applications like agriculture and water treatment for instance, there is always the risk of the grease spillage into the soil or on to crops and even entering water systems,” notes Eddie Martens, SKF Product Manager, MaPro.

“However, detrimental environmental impacts can be significantly reduced or even prevented with the application of SKF’s biodegradable LGGB 2 grease. This product is subsequently ideal for lubricating agricultural, forestry, construction, earthmoving, mining and conveying equipment, helping to green the footprints of these industries.”

SKF LGGB 2 is suitable for medium to high loads and delivers good low temperature start-up performance. Incorporating a lithium-calcium thickener formulation, the grease features good corrosion inhibiting properties and performs especially well in applications with steel-on-steel spherical plain bearings, ball bearings and roller bearings.

Martens points out that over-lubrication increases the potential of harmful environmental contamination coupled with costly product wastage and can also lead to premature equipment failure. “We therefore recommend to our customers to combine LGGB 2 with a SKF battery-driven grease gun; this will deliver the most optimum environmental and cost-saving integrated solution. Customers can choose from our TLGB 20 with a built-in grease meter as well as the TLGB 1262-E and TLGB 1886-E units without a grease meter.”

For further information please contact:

Samantha Joubert, Marketing Manager

Tel: +27 (0) 821 3602 / Fax: +27 (0) 86 681 4342

samantha.joubert@skf.com