A shortage of cement that’s been causing shutdowns at ready-mix plants in BC is spreading to Alberta, prompting calls for a long-term cement strategy to meet growing demand.
A fire at the Lafarge plant in Richmond on May 31 and a maintenance shutdown at the Ash Grove Cement plant in Seattle have exacerbated a supply crunch stemming from a labour dispute at Lehigh Hanson facilities in the Lower Mainland.
The result is cement supplies to the Lower Mainland running more than 60% below normal, resulting in delayed pours and extended construction timelines. Several smaller plants have shut down for days at a time..
Racy Sidhu of Yard-At-A-Time Concrete (1988) Ltd. in Delta had to shut down his plant for two days earlier this week. He said a growing number of operators are running out of cement.
“There’s a lot of logistical issues, supply chain crunch that they’re facing to get cement here,” he said. “So essentially you have plants on the Island that are shutting down, plants on the Sunshine Coast that have been forced to shut down.”
The shutdowns are also extending into Alberta. Sidhu, who also chairs the Concrete Association of BC, met one operator in Edmonton this week who expects to shut down his operation until fresh cement arrives from B.C.
“It’s a pretty large-scale supply crunch, and even if the strike was to come off within a week, you’re still going to have cement shortages throughout B.C. throughout the summer,” Sidhu said.
Canada is a net exporter of cement, he noted, making the current situation incredibly frustrating. Statistics Canada trade data indicates that cement exports totalled $670.2 million last year, almost all of it shipped south to the U.S. Canada imported $217.5 million worth of cement during the same period.
“We’ve got to have a long-term look at this to try and understand what governments need to do to ensure there’s adequate supply,” Sidhu said. “I would like the government to start thinking of it as a strategic resource, and start planning for another cement plant. … Give them the permitting, give them the tax breaks they need to do that.”
In the meantime, concrete contractor are doing their best to make do with the cement they have, asking clients to break down projects into smaller chunks so that projects can keep moving.
“A large customer wants 700 metres,” he said. “Our issue is we don’t have enough cement to produce 700 metres in a given day. We’re asking them to break down that 700 metres into 200-metre chunks, so then we can hit one [on] one day and one a couple of days later.”
Smaller projects are easier to accommodate, but even then uncertainties abound.
“We’re asking our customers to be patient with us, and to plan out three weeks in advance, and even then we cannot guarantee it,” he said. “It all depends if we get cement.”
Concrete BC recently issued a bulletin advising that supply chain issues were unlikely to change quickly.
“We expect supply constraints to continue in the second half of 2022,” it noted.
Sidhu said that even if cement production returns to normal levels by the end of June, it will take weeks for supplies and builders to catch up. Drivers are also in short supply, even if the strike at Rempel Bros. ends.
“I don’t think this problem is going away,” he said. “All those pours that didn’t happen have to happen, then everyone gets pushed. It’s going to take some time.”
Barry Capozzi, business agent for Teamsters Union Local 213 agreed. The local represents approximately 134 workers at six Rempel Bros. facilities who went on strike since May 21. Workers at six other facilities operating under the Ocean Concrete and Allied Ready Mix banners stopped work in solidarity. A deal was reached June 23 ending the strike but Capozzi said it won’t resolve the cement supply.
“It’s been the perfect storm,” he said.
