_________________________________________________________________________ Medcem Global Cement Group
operation at our factory with the electric mining trucks – a win for both sustainability and efficiency. We’ ve also opened new quarries to supply supplementary raw materials that are important to our production, such as bauxite, iron ore and gypsum. We have our own port located 17 kilometres from the factory for exporting 85 per cent of our production abroad. The logistics operation between the factory and port is vertically integrated and managed via electrical trucks from Mercedes.
“ Regarding forward integration, we used to sell purely on a Free on Board basis, without becoming involved in logistics beyond the port. However, over the past year we’ ve chartered vessels and controlled 500,000 tons of sales through our own shipping team. We’ d like to keep growing that shipping and vessel capability. None of this is our core business, but when we see the right opportunity in terms of margin and strategic advantage, we’ re willing to move into it. We’ re pleased with how vertical integration has developed across our operations, because it’ s giving us a real edge on profitability.”
With terminals at Sheerness, serving London and the Southeast, Glasgow in Scotland, and Liverpool on track for commissioning in September, Medcem’ s UK footprint is now complete. Mehmet reveals that further UK investment is likely, but the next move will be acquiring ready-mix businesses rather than building more terminals. In Europe, the group has both Antwerp in Belgium and Trieste in Italy up and running – however, the bigger growth story is in the US, where the company is investing in a new grinding facility, with a plan to commission in early 2027.
“ The US market is strong and stable compared to Europe,” Mehmet highlights.“ Demand is very robust because much of the aw material ory with in for cy construction-today. com 199