Manufacturing

ABB strengthens foothold in South African mining

africasc_admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:18:22 -0500

ABB strengthens foothold in South African mining

africasc_admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:18:22 -0500

ABB's new order in DR Congo lights up the continent

africasc_admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:46:54 -0600

ABB's signing of a $107million with SNEL (Société Nationale d’Électricité), the national power company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the clearest signal since democracy was restored, that at least stretch between the Katanga province up to the Inga power station is getting back to some level of stability - at least that it is stable enough for ABB to take on the project.

The refurbishment of what is one of the longest electricity transmission systems in the world also means that a big step will be taken in linking up Sub-Sahara's powerlines in a joint grid.

The 1,700 kilometer system was in fact built by ABB in 1982 and was back then the world’s longest transmission line.

The company was never payed by then Zairean government led by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko but ABB (then Asea) had wisely enough an export guarantee in place (meaning that Swedish tax payers in the end had to pick up part of the bill.)

In other words history has caught up with ABB.

Gunnebo adds safe bank environment to SymbioCity's customers

africasc_admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:43:13 -0500

One of the most unsafe moments in your daily life in South Africa's is when you are withdrawing cash from a bank ATM as robbery is common and you even face the risk of being at the wrong ATM at definitely the wrong time – when robbers are trying to blow the ATM up. This happens hundreds of times in South Africa annually.

Swedish safe manufacturer Gunnebo believes it has the solution that should appeal to bankers, politicians and the public, as it has developed an ATM security solution that minimises the robbers ability to actually gain access to the cash.

“For us this is both a security and an environmental issue that links us to SymbioCity”, said Robert Hermans, MD for Gunnebo South Africa.

Gunnebo was one of the sponsors of the SymbioCity manifestation aimed at exhibit what Sweden could do in terms of offering cleaner and safer technology to South Africa, Botswana and Namibia – the three countries that were targeted – but also the rest of the continent.

Gunnebo also hopes that the exposure at the event will serve the company well when its time for the SA Reservebank to purchase new bank vaults or security slusses.

“SymbioCity being very much a political forum it made sense for us to showcase our brand”, said Mr. Hermans.

Gunnebo are also supplying banks with tailor made security slusses, teller security and bank vaults.

The South African subsidiary battled with productivity problems until recently, until it hired a contractor to handle the production line. According to Mr.Hermans the company is topping up contract staff's salaries by 40 percent.

Alfa Laval offers key to unlock Namibia's uranium mining

africasc_admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:54:48 -0500

Swedish industrial technology company Alfa Laval believes it has a clear cut case on how to contribute to lower emissions by helping Namibia to step up its uranium production for nuclear power use dramatically.

The Alfa Laval process would, states the company together with the Namibian company (project owner), will contribute in solving the problem with potable water in Namibia and generate necessary energy in the process.

The company could invest € 25-30 million in the uranium project in Namibia if the client’s own investment plans are cleared.

That way uranium mining in Namibia’s desert areas would become possible and profitable. In particular during times of high uranium prices.

It is more than just a nice idea. A potential client is carrying out a feasibility study on two mining sites in Namibia and a successful outcome would open up for financing.

Alfa Laval presented its case, a combined energy recovery and sea water desalination process, during a Swedish Trade Delegation visit to Namibia earlier this month.

The overall shortage of water is, together with energy, the main obstacle to overcome before Namibia’s uranium production can move up a gear.

Namibia's uranium potential, states an industry sources, could increase the country’s GDP by as much as 20-30 percent.

Namibia in 2007 produced close to 3000 tonnes of uranium, or around 8 percent of the world output. The country could up a gear or two if technology issues could be solved.

The export income would also make the countries own nuclear power ambitions a reality. Namibia presently imports most of its energy from South Africa’s largely coal based power plants.

The way the Alfa Laval desalination process works is that heat exchangers will transform steam from sea or brackish water into pure distilled water. While there are other competitive technologies, Alfa Laval’s titanium plate based technology has shown to be less costly when compared with RO technology in areas where waste heat is available, the company points out that operating and maintenance costs are lower and that it therefore is a cost-effective solution.

Another advantage states an Alfa Laval official, is that the technology is proven and works. The company has delivered desalinization plants to Brazil, Saudi-Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Swedish summit on sustainable cities will find fertile ground in South Africa

africasc_admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:07:31 -0500

The Swedish Government sponsored summit in Midrand this week on sustainable cities, where both the Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt and Trade Minister Ewa Björling enrolled to drum up support for Swedish export opportunities, was well timed.

Among participating, and hopeful, Swedish companies were many of the largest multinationals, like Alfa Laval, Atlas Copco, Scania, Saab and Volvo, and others that already have subsidiaries or a foot in the door in South Africa such as ITT, Gunnebo and Kapsch TrafficCom.

On the executive level Sweden and South Africa have drifted apart over the past ten years. South Africa has moved up the ladder internationally and has become a buddy and playmate to much bigger and more influential friends like Brazil, India and China. They all want to have South Africa as a friend rather than a foe in their quest for Africa's raw material and markets. Sweden, on the other hand, have stayed on the sideline, ambivalent over what to do and were to go as Government links on leadership became more strained - not the least due to Mbeki's policy on aids and passive handling of Robert Mugabe.

With the Jacob Zuma administration in control in Pretoria, Sweden has a chance to tighten the relationship again. And the Swedish center-right Government seems to be keen to grasp that opportunity.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma stated after a meeting with the Swedish Prime Minister, that he welcomed close co-operation with Sweden on the climate change front. The two countries, Zuma said, were tied together historically and needed to stand together during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in November.

"We will have to. The deal in Copenhagen will need to balance climate and development, past and future, mitigation and adaptation, action by developed and developing countries, and a shared vision on reducing emissions, with means of implementation", said President Zuma.

South Africa, as the BRIC countries, maintains that most of the global climate mess is caused by OECD’s advanced economies. They must clean up in their own backyard and allow development nations to have some leeway.

In between the lines it seems like Zuma had an unspoken message to Mr. Reinfeldt: you support us in Copenhagen and we are willing to do business on the ground around those climate change issues you are so keen to promote.

The pressure on South Africa is not just external. South Africa doesn't need foreigners to remind them that action is needed to curb carbon emission; the local pressure is mounting so the Government party is slowly waking up to them as aggrieved local constituencies are becoming impatient.

On Wednesday this week residents from Secunda, a small "dorph" 140 kilometers west of Pretoria, protested against massive pollution, outside the HQ of the home grown petro-chemical multinational Sasol, one of the main culprits in South Africa as far as pollution goes. Sasol spits out some 75 million tons of greenhouse gases annually or about 21% of South Africa's total greenhouse gas emissions per year.

Earlier in the week environmental NGO Earthlife Africa stated that Sasol is one of the worst emitters of greenhouse gases on the African continent.

Other South African companies with a battle on their hands and that could face touch penalties if they are not cutting back on their pollution are power utility Eskom, minerals giant Anglo American and BHP Billiton.

Both Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt and Trade minister Ewa Björling gave upbeat messages to South African business- and Government decision makers at the conference venue in Midrand.

Reinfeldt said that the Swedish economy had grown by 50 % in 18 years but had managed to drop emissions by 10 %. Oil consumption had halfed since the Seventies.

Trade Minister Dr. Ewa Bjorling pointed out that these achievements was a result of a balancing act where one had to think green across the ministries, not just in the Ministry of Environment. Individual behavioural change was as important to achieve the overal gool to balance affordability and sustainability, she said.

THis may be what South Africa wants to hear. To grow fast and still cut emissions appeals to the country's leaders.

Certainly climate change and environmental concerns in South Africa has put pressure on companies and government alike. South Africa’s cities are facing massive traffic increases – 7 % annual increase in traffic – and there is very little done so far to stimulate energy saving- and carbon cutting transport even in public sector.

Large municipalities, like Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town are faced with increased urbanization levels well over a million annually that adds to the pressure on the environment. The majority is people from rural areas in South Africa but a large chunk are also illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries. Most of them begin their new city life in slums 50 kilometers or more outside the city centers where the municipalities have an uphill task to supply basic energy, water, and sanitation and waste management.

Mr. Reinfeldt and his wife saw this poverty-stricken side of South Africa too, during a visit to the Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town, and were reportedly humbled. If Mr. Reinfeldt picked up President Zuma’s message along the way remains to be seen.

For sure, largely due to apartheid and with an understandable fixation with primarily dealing with income- and racial gaps South Africa is very much a latecomer on the environmental bandwagon.

The inheritance from the last white administration was a mixed blessing. 92 % of the country's energy generation and 10 % of the fuel - the oil-from-coal technology was an invention to circumvent sanctions - comes from coal and authorities have decided to turn a blind eye to the consequences.

New policies to combat climate change are in the pipeline, in a bid to address environmental concerns at home and climate concerns from EU - the Swedish PM was primarily in South Africa to handle EU-South Africa relations in his capacity as EU chairman – are underway. But there is no way South Africa will turn away from coal, its leading fossil asset.

To handle power cuts the South African Government has embarked on a fast-track programme to add new power plants – mostly coal fired plants. The consequence is more emissions instead of less.

To make the equation work South Africa needs to catch up and take drastic energy saving and carbon saving measures. In other words the country needs to purchase clean technologies.

South Africa is a net importer of just about all machinery and distribution technologies. And the same goes for energy and carbon reducing technologies and processes for the public and private sectors.

So exporters of such technologies, such as Sweden, therefore are well advised to position themselves and take advantage of opportunities.

Sweden has generally not been not very good at try and capitalize on its old liberation credentials with South Africa – partially because the Swedish way of doing business institutionally separate the public and private sectors. Swedish state institutions, both central and on municipal levels, have “benefitted” to a degree from Sida sponsored programmes. The most famous Swedish contribution to South Africa is undoubtedly Swedish tax consultant’s assistance to help and more than quadrupling the country’s tax base.

The Sustainable City concept is another success story that made its debut at the 2002 World Summit of Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Infrastructure consultants Sweco on behalf of the Swedish Government developed it. In South Africa this integrated approach has been successfully implemented in Buffalo City, the larger East London area.

Since then Swedish development bureaucrats have been made a concerted push in the clean technology sector.

• Sweden and South Africa signed a bi-national agreement on the subject in 2007 to focus on skills development, technology transfer, infrastructure build up and increased trade.
• Last year Swedish Trade Council organized a seminar in Pretoria attended by 150 delegates from business, government and academic sectors.
• Grants and loans, through Swedish government agency Nutek and state owned private equity fund Swedfund have been searching and funding clean tech- and biofuel projects.

Niches to be explored include clean and energy efficient public transport systems; optimising pump systems for energy efficient and sustainable waste disposal; encouraging sustainable business investment strategies; and finding opportunities around the South African energy utility Eskom’s six-point plan on climate change.

For all these reasons Reinfeldt's visit was timely. The SA government want co-operation in this field. It also wants allies as South Africa doesn’t want to be wrapped over the knuckle at the Copenhagen climate change summit in November or face carbon curbs.

Naturally Sweden is by no means alone. Climate change is the name of the game for other Nordic countries too – and for just about every Northern Hemisphere exporter.

Kapsch-TrafficCom a step closer to win landmark tender

africasc_admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:55:00 -0500

Jönkoping based Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been shortlisted and the signs are good that the company will pass the post and can then become the first Swedish company in ten years to win a multi-billion rand tender from the South African government. The decision on the BOT contract is imminent, depending on if all regulatory issues have been adhered to in the decision.

Kapsch TrafficCom has partnered with a South African Black Economic
Empowerment partner to win the tender for the new electronic toll collection
system the country’s national roads authority SANRAL wants to install. Another partner, South African toll road operator Tolcon is part of the tender, where the main competitors are from France/Spain and Italy.

The new electronic toll collection system will be a modern one – an open
road tolling system, meaning that cars will not have to stop at toll booths
in order to pay the fee.

The local partner, TMT, is a local specialist in enforcement of traffic
violations.

The BOT contract will run for eight years before it will be handed over to
the authorities.

Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been operating in South Africa for the past 10
years, and has during that time, among other things, installed smaller toll
projects in Durban and Cape Town.

Kapsch-TraffiCom a step closer to win landmark tender in South Africa

africasc_admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:27:00 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Jönkoping based Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been shortlisted and the signs are good that the company will pass the post and become the first Swedish company in ten years to win a multi-billion rand tender from the South African government. The decision on the BOT contract is imminent, depending on if all regulatory issues have been adhered to in the decision.

Kapsch TrafficCom has partnered with a South African Black Economic Empowerment partner to win the tender for the new electronic toll collection system the country’s national roads authority SANRAL wants to install. Another partner, South African toll road operator Tolcon is part of the tender, where the main competitors are from Spain and Italy.

The new electronic toll collection system will be a modern one – an open road tolling system, meaning that cars will not have to stop at toll booths in order to pay the fee.

The local partner, TMT, is a local specialist in enforcement of traffic violations.

The BOT contract will run for eight years before it will be handed over to the authorities.

Kapsch TrafficCom AB has been operating in South Africa for the past 10 years, and has during that time, among other things, installed smaller toll projects in Durban and Cape Town.

With a seven percent growth in the traffic volumes per annum in South Africa's roads the winner of the tender is expected to claw back and make a very handsome profit by the time the BOT contract expires.

Rottneros strugges to finalise deal in South Africa

africasc_admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:32:00 -0500

Swedish pulp specialist Rottneros continues to struggle with its future direction and funding thereof. The company’s plans to move the Utansjö pulp factory to South Africa, first announced in 2007, has not yet managed to wrap up funding for the SEK 2.5 billion project where Rottneros is expected to become a minority shareholder.

The company did however announce earlier this year that the JV in South Africa, Pulp United, have received confirmation that it has been allotted enough electricity from the state owned electricity utility ESKOM to be able to go ahead. South Africa has power shortages due to a fast growing economy over the past ten seven years.

ESKOM, writes Rottneros, has provided a written undertaking to supply the total power of 50 MW applied for. The energy price will be based on the government-regulated tariff system.

Rottneros expected back in March that a contract would soon be drawn up with the South African project partners NCT Forestry Products as well as with Swedish State owned private equity fund Swedfund as well as with the South African development bank IDC.

The deal has however not yet been consummated and the planned building of the factory has not stared during the first half of this year as anticipated.

It is therefore not clear if and when the Utansjö Mill, which was closed a year ago, will finally be sold and transported to Pulp United. The reason to close Utansjö was that eucalyptus would replace aspen and that way, together with cheaper electricity would make CTMP production more viable and therefore competitive.

Rottneros states that it plans a SEK 200 million share issue but failed to clarify if this was needed for the South African project to go ahead.

Swedish Match choose to cash in instead of investing more in South Africa

africasc_admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:18:35 -0500

Swedish Match has become the first Swedish multinational company to disinvest from South Africa since 1994 by selling its assets in the country to Philip Morris in July. The purchase value, $ 222 million means that Swedish Match makes a nice net profit but it also means that the company leaves a fast growing emerging market to a global competitor in the Other Tobacco Segment (OTS).
It also appears as Swedish Match's global strategy goes up in smoke, as it seem to give up the ambition to become the world leader on high end tobacco, including pipe tobacco, cigars and Swedish style snuff.
Swedish Match became the market leader in South Africa when it purchased a local family owned empire less than ten years ago. It has put a fair amount of work into rationalising the factories and clean them up.
The reward was a solid market share in South Africa, an estimated 31 percent, despite that Swedish Match South Africa (SMSA) did not even sell cigarettes - a business the company has disinvested from in a conscious move to distance itself from the anti-tobacco lobby worldwide.
One reason for the company's disinvestment from South Africa may be that it showed very difficult to introduce its pet product, Swedish snuff in the country, which left the company with a portfolio of products that was local and sold at the low end of the market.
South Africa forbids tobacco marketing which did not exactly made it easier for the company's executives to find way's to get South Africans to stuff their upper lips with those Swedish goodies.
SMSA is the market leader in the South African pipe tobacco and snuff categories, which represent an estimated 31% of total tobacco consumption. In 2008, SMSA reported net revenues of ZAR 687 million. Its principal brands include Boxer, Best Blend and Taxi.
"This financially attractive acquisition represents an excellent strategic fit for our business in South Africa," said Jean-Claude Kunz, President of PMI`s Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa Region. "We firmly believe that merging the two businesses will provide us with the talent, infrastructure and expertise to further build and grow our portfolio of strong brands in this important market."
Swedish Match says that the transaction is subject to approval by the South African regulatory authorities, including the country’s competition commission- and tribunal. These regulatory bodies are by no means any pushovers and the outcome should not be taken for granted. The process is expected to take until the end of 2009.