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IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August  11, 2005

Cement the No. 1 import at the Port of Stockton

Stockton, CA, August 11, 2005 - The gray powder used as a binding agent in concrete, mortar and stucco is the leading imported product at the port of Stockton.  “This year 2005, we’re projecting another 50 percent rise over last year’s 100 percent increase,” said Port Director Richard Aschieris. “In the last two years, we’ve seen dramatic increases in cement imports,” he said.

Based on interviews with cement importers, the port expects to handle 1.6 million metric tons of cement in 2005. That’s up from 1.1 million metric tons in 2004 and 456,000 metric tons in 2003. Previously, cement imports peaked at 712,000 metric tons in 2001 before dropping off for two years while one importer built a new facility. Five percent of the nation’s imported cement will come through the Port of Stockton this year compared with 4 percent in 2004, based on figures supplied by the port and the Portland Cement Association, a national trade group based in Skokie, Ill. The imported cement, coming from Asia to the Port of Stockton, is purchased primarily by concrete and ready-mix companies in Northern California that supply basic building materials for the construction boom in the region, which Aschieris expected to remain strong for the next six months or longer.

“Our cement companies have been rather busy,” the port director said of the three tenants — California Portland Cement Co., Lehigh Southwest Cement Co. and Sunshine Cement Inc. — that bring the cement in by ship and railcar. The same is true around the country.

In a May survey of cement suppliers, 23 states reported tight supplies of cement, but California was not one of them. Cement consumption in the United States grew to a record 119.9 million metric tons in 2004, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2003. And it doesn’t show signs of abating this year. In California, a pent-up demand for public-works projects beginning in late 2006 or 2007 is expected to expand the market for cement even further, according to industry experts. To meet demand, additional cement is being imported. Its share of total U.S. consumption rose from 20.6 percent in 2003 to 22.7 percent in 2004. PCA expects the import share to exceed 25 percent this year through at least 2007.

Since October 1998, a ship called the Golden Arrow I, has been docked at the port, serving as a floating silo that handles about 40,000 metric tons of cement for Sunshine Cement, a subsidiary of CTI Group headquartered in Amman, Jordan.

California Portland Cement, the Glendora-based subsidiary of Taiheiyo Cement Corp. of Tokyo operates the Port of Stockton’s largest cement terminal. Senior Vice President Rick Patton estimated he will import 850,000 metric tons this year, more than half the total coming through the port.

In 2000, Cal Portland began construction of its $35 million terminal to unload, store and distribute cement. It went into full operation in April 2004, offloading ships primarily from Taiwan and some from China carrying as much as 43,000 metric tons. The centerpiece of its operation is a 110-foot-tall dome building used for storing up to 65,000 metric tons of cement.
Cal Portland’s Stockton terminal operates around the clock, loading up to 250 trucks in a
24-hour period. It takes just four minutes to fill an enclosed trailer with an average of 27 tons of the gray powder.

“Cement is so dusty, it’s amazing how it loads dust-free,” said terminal manager Warren Burchett, noting that once the cement is pulled from the ship’s hold, it’s completely enclosed and never exposed again as it moves along a system of conveyors and through tubes into trucks and railcars.   “We did a lot of research in the late ’90s, and we centered in on Stockton. It really fit in our market for the growth potential we saw in the Valley. The port people were good people to work with. It was a combination of marketing and operations that drove our choice,” Patton said.

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