In early 2011, Dufferin Construction, a division of Holcim Canada Inc., and Aecon Group Ltd. joined forces to streamline their supply chains for asphalt cement. Together, the companies launched a new joint venture, Yellowline Asphalt Products Ltd., and began construction of a new asphalt cement tank farm and mixing facility on Pier 22 at the port of Hamilton, which received its first load earlier this year.
Asphalt pavement is made up of 95 per cent aggregate and five per cent asphalt cement. The asphalt cement binds the aggregate together, and helps resist rutting and cracking.
With only one production refinery in Ontario, most of the asphalt cement used in the province is imported, from as far afield as Alberta, the US and even South America. Yellowline needed a location that could receive shipments by truck, rail and barge. Their new port facility delivers full multimodal connectivity, as well as a convenient central supply point in the heart of the GTHA.
The new tank facility offers 30,000 tonnes of capacity, or about six months’ supply. There is also a mixing tank to produce a range of grades, and four 1,000-tonne day tanks to hold the asphalt cement immediately prior to shipping. An in-house lab allows Yellowline to produce the numerous and precise formulations required in modern construction projects. “Asphalt cement has become a much more sophisticated material in recent years,” said Donn Bernal, General Manager, Yellowline. “For the first time, we are controlling all of the materials that go into asphalt pavement.”
The new Yellowline facility is located on a redeveloped Pier 22, which Hamilton Port Authority purchased from Stelco in 2006. After a multi-year, multimillion-dollar brownfield redevelopment process, HPA is now pleased to see the property returned to productive use, generating