CEMEX is one of the country’s top 20 logistics operators, making more than four million deliveries a year by road, rail, sea and inland waterways. It employs over 1,100 staff including its own fleet drivers and manages almost 2,000 subcontract haulage companies. Its scope of logistics operations include inbound and outbound cement, dry silo mortar, admixtures, aggregates, asphalt and building products. Supply chain operations include terminals, depots and ash processing plants. All these operations are managed on a national basis through a centralised specialist logistics and supply chain function.

The company uses a balanced and innovative approach to logistics to achieve operational, safety and environmental benefits on a national basis. Its industry leading performance has been acknowledged through winning national awards for safety and operational performance.

Inland Waterway Operations CEMEX has introduced the major freight transport on the River Severn in over 30 years. For the next 10 years, a total of nearly 3 million tonnes of aggregates will be carried by barge on the river, saving fuel and a 34,000 lorry journeys a year. Aggregates are also barged on the River Thames from Northfleet to Battersea, reducing road transportation in London.

Short Sea Operations

CEMEX also transports products by sea. Bulk cement is transported from Grimsby to Leith in Scotland by two dedicated vessels. The company also has the capacity to receive sea-going vessels at terminals in Tilbury, Northfleet and Angerstein. Bulk Aggregates are also shipped by short sea movements from North Wales to the South Coast and South East wharf locations.

		Rail Operations The central Rail team manages the CEMEX Rail operations covering aggregates ex Doveholes to several depot locations nationally, as well as coal movements by rail into cement plants, together with ash by rail. In conjunction with inBULK Technologies, CEMEX has developed and uses an innovative, 'intermodal' environmentally friendly bulk transport system. This silo based system can be used on rail or sea as well as road and even provides secure on site storage if necessary.
		Fleet optimisation CEMEX has invested heavily in order to optimise its fleet using IT solutions such as GPS vehicle tracking. This improves visibility of fleet activity. The company is able to maximise its own fleet and subcontract operations by using strategic planning tools, such as Paragon modelling, which helps identify the mix and size of fleet operations at each location.

There is also a '24/ 7 Load' for both aggregates and cement deliveries. This increase in out of hours delivery service has helped ease pressure on congested roads and enables customers to start the day with full silos of cement and aggregates.