Liebherr says the new city pump is designed to fulfill an industry need for reliable and flexible boom-less pump trucks for line pumping applications.
Newport News, Virginia-based Liebherr has released its new THP 80-LP truck-mounted concrete city pump, which the company describes as a compact and powerful pump designed specifically for the North American market.
Liebherr says it is “the smallest pump in the truck-mounted concrete pump product line” while still maintaining the same high performance, quality and many of the same features as the larger truck-mounted concrete pumps.
“It is the perfect solution for jobs in urban environments, residential jobs and compact job sites where space is limited. THP 80-LP will be presented to the general public for the first time at World of Concrete 2022,” states Liebherr.
The new city pump is designed to fulfill an industry need for reliable and flexible boom-less pump trucks for line pumping applications. According to Liebherr, design and development of the THP80-LP city pump is a result of customer feedback in collaboration with Liebherr’s many years of engineering and production.
The THP 80-LP can offer operators greater flexibility and mobility to maneuverer around the job site, with a total length of 28.4 feet. Liebherr says it is quick to set up and easy to control with an HBC option for the remote control. In addition, the truck has ample storage with wide spaces for the concrete tubes and accessories on the deck.
The THP 80-LP is mounted on a two-axle truck chassis and weighs around 22,684 pounds, which Liebherr says is significantly lighter than the truck-mounted boom pumps.
“This is convenient for customers because it does not require a CDL to operate, which means there is more flexibility and allows more of their staff to operate the equipment,” the company says.
Liebherr also credits the pump’s high performance to its pumping kit that features an open-loop hydraulic circuit. Liebherr says its pump kits are robust, low stroking, low wear and easy to switch parts.
In addition, the Liebherr city pump is designed to deliver high pumping performance. The suction inlet has a greater diameter than the cylinder itself, ensuring outstanding suction performance, even on extreme concrete types. With the split wear plates, maintenance can be done quickly and easily, the company says.
The company posts record steel, steel fabrication and metals recycling segment earnings in 2021.
Fort Wayne, Indiana-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has reported record results for the fourth quarter of 2021 and for the full year. Its quarterly net sales totaled $5.3 billion, while its net income was $1.1 billion, or $5.49 per diluted share. For the year, SDI’s net sales totaled $18.4 billion, while operating income was $4.3 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled $4.6 billion. The company anticipated record performance for the quarter when it issued earnings guidance in December of last year.
In the third quarter of 2021, SDI’s earnings were $4.85 per diluted share, while fourth-quarter 2020 earnings were 89 cents per diluted share.
Mark D. Millett, SDI chairman and CEO, says, "Numerous individual operating and financial records were attained during the year. Across the company, our teams achieved best-in-class performance while keeping each other healthy and safe.”
He credits the company’s employees for its record annual cash flow from operations of $2.2 billion. SDI ended 2021 with liquidity in excess of $2.4 billion despite investing in organic growth.
"Domestic steel demand was strong throughout the year, supported most significantly by the construction, automotive and industrial sectors," Millett says. "Customer steel inventories also remained historically low as steel supply was not sufficient to meet robust demand requirements during much of the year. This strong market environment drove significantly higher realized steel selling values, resulting in meaningful steel metal spread expansion. In combination with the symbiotic relationships among our three primary operating platforms, we achieved record annual financial and operational performance. Our steel operations achieved record annual 2021 shipments of 11.2 million tons and record operating income of $4.4 billion. Our metals recycling and steel fabrication operations also achieved record 2021 annual operating income of $195 million and $365 million, respectively."
Fourth-quarter 2021 operating income for the company's steel operations was a record $1.4 billion, aligned with sequential third-quarter results, attributed to meaningful metal spread expansion across the entire steel platform. Coupled with flat scrap input costs, record flat-roll and strong long product steel selling values more than offset seasonally lower steel shipments. The average external product selling price for SDI’s steel operations increased $112 sequentially to $1,662 per ton. The average ferrous scrap cost per ton melted at the company's steel mills remained static at $490 per ton.
Fourth-quarter OmniSource operating income, the company's metals recycling division, remained strong at $44 million based on improved metal margins offsetting lower ferrous shipments, SDI says. Many domestic steel mills had planned maintenance outages throughout the fourth quarter, which lowered ferrous scrap demand. Ferrous scrap prices moderated in September and October, recovering to an extent in the latter half of the fourth quarter, resulting in modestly lower average realized selling values, the company notes.
Its steel fabrication operations reported record operating income of $238 million in the fourth quarter, more than two-and-a-half times higher than sequential third-quarter results. Supported by strong shipments, earnings increased as pricing increased $986 per ton, more than offsetting the continued increase in average steel input costs, the company says.
SDI awarded performance-based special compensation of approximately $21 million to all eligible nonexecutive team members in recognition of its record annual performance. The company also contributed $10 million to its charitable foundation during the fourth quarter.
Annual 2021 record net sales increased 92 percent and operating income increased more than four times to a record $4.3 billion when compared with 2020, SDI notes. The company attributes its higher earnings to steel metal spread expansion, as significantly higher average steel selling values more than offset higher average ferrous scrap costs across the steel platform, especially within its flat-roll operations. Compared with 2020, the average 2021 external product selling price for the company's steel operations increased $611 to $1,381 per ton. The average 2021 ferrous scrap cost per ton melted at SDI’s steel mills increased $179 to $447 per ton.
"We believe the market dynamics are in place for domestic steel consumption to further increase in 2022 when compared to 2021," Millett says. "Based on domestic steel demand fundamentals and customer confidence, we believe North American steel consumption will experience steady growth, supported by the construction, automotive and industrial sectors. Our Structural and Rail Division and steel fabrication operations provide us with more specific insight into the non-residential construction sector, which is the single largest domestic steel-consuming sector. Based on our record steel fabrication order backlog extending through most of 2022, combined with the continued strength of order activity and broad customer optimism, we believe construction will remain strong in the coming year. In addition, we believe the more severe supply chain challenges within the North American automotive sector will abate during 2022, supporting stronger production for vehicles that are in high demand and short supply.”
Millett acknowledges challenges with the start-up of its new EAF steel mill in Sinton, Texas. "We had planned to be further along with commissioning the hot side of the steel mill, but supply-chain and COVID challenges delayed the project by several weeks.”
However, he adds that the rolling mill and two value-added finishing lines were successfully commissioned “ahead of the melting and casting operations in preparation of full operations commencing before the end of February 2022.”
Millett says SDI’s Sinton mill expects shipments to be roughly 2 million tons in 2022.
Property developer in Bozeman, Montana, says 100-year-old building is no longer safe.
A century-old hospital building in Bozeman, Montana, could be scheduled for demolition later this year, with the property’s current owner indicating the structure is no longer safe to house activities.
An online article by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle says regional developers HomeBase Partners and Andy Holloran have sought approval from Bozeman’s city government to dismantle the former Deaconess Hospital building.
The four-story 22,000 structure was built in 1920 and served as a regional hospital until the mid-1980s, according to the Daily Chronicle and the Bozeman Magazine website. While the lower two floors hosted a care center during part of the subsequent 35 years, the upper floors appear to have deteriorated, according to a Chronicle reporter who visited the site.
The demolition permit is expected to be discussed at a city commission meeting in March. The developer has offered to use deconstruction techniques to salvage pertinent fixtures and items, but a preservation group tells the newspaper it would prefer to see the shell of the building preserved. Halloran is quoted by the Chronicle as saying that option “doesn’t make any sense at all economically.”
Demo of power plant by Buffalo-based contractor is at site of planned scrap-fed steel mill.
The Buffalo, New York-based Frontier Group has started demolition work in Mason County, West Virginia, to dismantle an idled power plant to make way for an electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill to be built by Nucor Corp.
The Frontier Group describes itself as offering several services tied to “large-scale industrial and commercial facility reuse, repurposing and redevelopment.” Several of those services—including demolition, dismantling, asset recovery, brownfield redevelopment and real estate development –likely will come into play in the West Virginia project.
An online article from WCHS-TV of Charleston, West Virginia, says Frontier has started demolishing the former Philip Sporn Power Plant, a coal-fired plant formerly owned by American Electric Power. Initial work included safely dropping a boiler in mid-January, according to the TV station.
Frontier acquired the 280-acre Sporn site in Mason County for redevelopment purposes in 2019, according to WCHS, four years after the utility idled the plant.
Earlier this month, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor announced it planned a new scrap-fed EAF steel sheet mill at the site along the Ohio River and the border with the Buckeye State.
Citing a company news release, WCHS says Frontier expects to complete its demolition work by the end of 2022.
The company says the Cat MH3026 material handler offers high performance with lower operating costs.
Construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Deerfield, Illinois, has launched the Cat MH3026 material handler. The company says the loader is designed to provide superior performance, low operating costs and improved operator efficiency.
According to a news release from Caterpillar, the material handler is powered by the Cat C7.1 engine, capable of operating on up to B20 biodiesel and meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final Tier 4 emission standards. The company says the engine’s maintenance-free aftertreatment system lowers operating costs and maximizes machine uptime. It also offers the choice between power and economy modes, offering up to 10 percent lower fuel usage than previous models without sacrificing machine performance.
The company says the loader has Standard Product Link, which captures operating data such as location, hours, fuel usage, productivity, idle time, maintenance alerts and fault codes, which can be remotely accessed and tracked to boost fleet management efficiency.
The loader also features an electrohydraulic system the company says optimizes the balance of power and efficiency, improving cycle times to handle more material in the same amount of time. The new hydraulic oil filter improves filtration and increases change intervals to 3,000 operating hours and lasts 50 percent longer than previous designs. New anti-drain valves keep the hydraulic oil clean during filter replacement.
All engine filters feature a coordinated 1,000-operating-hour change interval. The air intake filter with precleaner lasts up to 1,000 hours to reduce maintenance requirements, according to Caterpillar.
The vehicle’s cooling fan features a standard automatic reverse function to keep the cores clean, maximizing machine uptime. An optional vibrating cooling screen activates during reverse fan operation to further improve dust and debris removal.
For more information about the new Cat MH3026 material handler, click here.