News

Liebherr reports healthy business performance for 2012, despite tough trading conditions in some markets. Group turnover for 2012 rose 9.1% (€756.2 million) from the previous year and reached a record €9.09 billion, the highest in Liebherr’s history since the firm began operations in 1949. Meanwhile the company continued to invest in its operations with group investments totalling €854 million, an increase of 27.6% (€853.8 million) over the previous year. Meanwhile the workforce grew by 2,468 to some 37,80

Progress is being made in Indonesia with regard to the Sunda Strait Bridge project. Construction work is expected to start shortly and the cost of the project has been estimated at some US$10.6 billion.

Chile’s congested capital Santiago is set to benefit from the construction of a key route that will help reduce journey times and improve traffic flow, particularly at peak periods. The tender process will open shortly for the Americo Vespucio Oriente (AVO) highway in Santiago, a 9.3km highway connection that will include the construction of a tunnel under the San Cristobal area.

A new method to route and organise truck transport that could enhance the life quality of truck drivers, save millions of dollars and increase the efficiency of freight transport is being studied by Oregon State University (OSU) researchers in Canada. Two systems - relay and point-to-point - are combined in the new method for full-truckload transport. A new mathematical method has also been developed by the cited researchers to minimise effects on drivers and optimise the dispatching system's design for goo

Car manufacturers General Motors and Honda are now working jointly on developing fuel cell powered vehicles. The two companies have established a long term partnership that will encompass bot the fuel cell system as well as storage solutions for the hydrogen fuel and also refuelling infrastructure.

Research carried out in Finland reveals that an innovative new gasification method can turn forestry waste into biofuel with less than €1/litre. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland says that lignocellulosic biomass can be processed using new technology developed in Finland to transfer of more than half the energy of wood raw waste into fuel.

A new bridge spanning the River Ntem will provide a link between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. The bridge will form part of the 159km Kribi-Campo-Bata road and its construction follows an agreement between the governments of the two neighbouring nations. Some 77km of the road is in Cameroon and 82km is in Equatorial Guinea. The entire road and bridge project is expected to boost trade and economic activity.

This video from International Pavement Management (IPMA) discusses hot in-place surface recycling job sites in the US state of Georgia. Presenter Blair Barnhardt talks to Brian Frix from Rockdale County and Mike Lehner from Cobb County DOT about their successes with their pavement management programmes.

The newly built US$522.81 million (CZK 10.45bn) D3 motorway section between Tabor and Veseli nad Luznici in the Czech Republic has officially opened. The partially EU funded 25km route was built by a consortium of four companies Eurovia CS, Strabag, Metrostav and Inzinierske Stavby. The motorway section includes 48 bridges, 277 construction objects and ten sound barriers.

Four road infrastructure projects under the Doha Expressway programme in Qatar will be designed and supervised by CH2M HILL Halcrow under terms of a contract awarded by the Qatari government.. The projects consist of two 10km, dual five-lane carriageways for the East-West Corridor, an 11km road for the Al Wakrah Bypass, and another 11km highway Al Wakrah Main Road. CH2M HILL Halcrow is a merger of US-based engineering and construction consultancy CH2M HILL and UK peer Halcrow Group.