Asamer: gravel plant Roitham officially launched its railway transportation system – relief for environment and traffic
01-Jun-2010
As of now, the Upper-Austrian family business Asamer transports raw materials from the gravel plant Roitham to the Asamer concrete plant in Linz in an environmentally friendly way by rail. Asamer invested eight million Euros in the extension and will save 1,920 tons of CO2 every year. The gravel plant Roitham has already been awarded two sustainability prizes for its environmental friendliness.
Everything geared up for transport by rail in the Asamer gravel plant Roitham near Gmunden/Upper Austria. From now on, the raw materials are transported by rail from the works in Roitham to Linz in the Asamer concrete plant, which consequently ensures traffic relief, especially south of Linz.
"Asamer is greatly concerned with the issue of increasing environmental pollution and is looking for possibilities to reduce the emission of pollutants. In cooperation with Rail Cargo Austria, we have established two railway connections to the public railway network for an optional transport by railway", so the explanation of the president of Asamer, Manfred Asamer. 80 to 90 percent of the raw materials obtained in Roitham are transported by rail, and the rest is still transported by truck for reasons of logistics.
The connection points are at the site in Roitham (connection point Steyrermühl) and the Asamer concrete plant in Linz (connecting railway Kleinmünchen station). Rail Cargo Austria contributes its innovative MOBILER logistics system and transports 180,000 tons of grit and gravel from Roitham to Linz on behalf of Asamer every year. There the containers loaded with aggregates are put onto trucks directly from the wagons, taken to the unloading station, unloaded and returned to the railway station. The MOBILER logistic system of Rail Cargo Austria disposes of about 550 containers and 30 MOBILER vehicles – it creates and controls the entire logistic chain, and the customers have only one point of contact.
Relief for the environment
Railway transport enables Asamer to save 14,500 truck rides every year and consequently 1,920 tons of CO2. These 14,500 rides less equal 850,000 truck kilometres, for which 350,000 litres of diesel would be consumed.
The gravel plant is especially mindful of sustainability in other areas as well: 80% of the ground water used for washing the gravel is recycled. A faster, eco-friendly re-cultivation is achieved by means of concentrated sludge, which helps to save on area and space.
Austrian and European sustainability awards presented
Before the railway connection points were even officially put into service, the gravel plant Roitham was presented the Sustainability Award of the lobbying platform for mineral raw materials, the Forum mineralischer Rohstoffe. This also qualified it for the "Sustainable Development Award 2010" of the European umbrella organisation of the aggregates industry (European Aggregates Association, UEPG), which was presented on 27 May 2010 as well. As a result, the gravel plant Roitham has already been awarded two prizes for sustainability
Corporate data Asamer Holding
The Asamer group has a staff of about 5,790 people world-wide and achieved a turnover of 471 million Euros in the year 2009. The consolidated figures for the segment of construction materials of Asamer Holding AG as of 31 December 2009: EBITDA 96 million Euros and an ordinary business result of 21 million Euros.