Swiss cement producer Holcim, which has a strong presence in the province of Hainaut, has been granted a concession for 800 meters of quay in Obourg, on land owned by PACO (Port Autonome du Center et de l’Ouest) on the banks of the Canal du Centre.
The Obourg cement factory is Holcim’s main production location in Belgium. A major investment plan (600 million euros) is currently being implemented to, among other things, build a new production unit that aims to achieve an energy efficiency improvement of 30%. This project, called Go4Zero, also includes a transport component: from summer 2026, the raw materials (limestone from Gaurain-Ramecroix) will be delivered by rail instead of by truck, and shipments to the port of Antwerp are already partly made by water.
Currently, cement transport amounts to approximately 240,000 tons per year. With the new terminal that will be put into use on the PACO site, this figure will increase by a factor of 2.5 to 600,000 tons. However, this potential will only be achieved when the Obourg lock is adapted to the 2000 tonne gabarite. Currently it can only accommodate ships of 1350 tons, but work is underway on the construction of a new lock that should be operational in 2028.
“This strategic agreement is an important step in our policy to reduce our ecological footprint, in particular by diversifying our logistics solutions to rail and inland shipping. It is also a strong signal of the sustainable commitment of the Holcim group to a rational use of the transport infrastructure made available by the government,” explains Morgan Malecotte, CEO of Holcim Belgium, who also sees a great opportunity for the Obourg site in this project: “All development possibilities on our Obourg site are conceivable, such as expanding our catchment area to a greater radius than by road to markets with high commercial potential. It is a long-term commitment, for several decades.”
