MEXICO-based cement giant Cemex has said it is exploring the possibility of selling its concrete piping assets in Australia.

The assets being considered for sale operate under the Humes brand name and consist of 16 concrete pipe and products manufacturing facilities located throughout Australia.

A $US12.4 billion ($A13.8 billion) project that will see iron ore processed and a railway built across Australia, linking the iron ore heartland of the Pilbara with the Bowen Basin coal fields, has received support from 19 steelmakers.

East West Line Parks, the company behind the Iron Boomerang project, said in a statement last Friday that the steelmakers have signed three-year confidentiality agreements to discover more about the scheme.

Australia is in the grip of a skills shortage and arguably one of the hardest-hit professions is engineering, with attraction and retention proving to be a major ongoing problem for the industry. Kristie Batten reports

Although there are roughly 150,000 engineers in Australia, there is an estimated shortfall of more than 20,000. And with fewer than 6000 engineering students graduating each year, the problem is not going to disappear any time soon.

EMERGING Western Australian marine construction specialist Georgiou Group has won a $15 million contract to build a new transfer and lay-by wharf at the Australian Marine Complex Common User Facility in Henderson, south of Fremantle.

The new wharf will complement the floating dock and Self Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMT) system, both of which are currently in development.

The transfer wharf contract, which is part of the State Government’s $174 million infrastructure upgrade program in the area, includes construction of the transfer and lay-by wharves, shore services for the floating dock, and modifications to the Australian Marine Complex Common User Facility (AMC-CUF) hardstand area.

The floating dock will abut the transfer wharf allowing for the transfer of vessels, using the SPMT system, to the hardstand area of the CUF for repair and maintenance work.

IN POLITICS you can, of course, never please everyone, a message reaffirmed this week by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s gentle cheer for the New South Wales Government’s infrastructure audit handed to Infrastructure Australia.

The audit submission basically spells out the key infrastructure projects in energy, water and telecommunications, as well as the key road and rail jobs, that the Government wants added to Infrastructure Australia’s national priority list that Sir Rod and co are developing.

HEARING device developer Sensear, which is commercialising an electronic earplug that blocks ambient sound while still allowing normal conversation, has won the Medical and Healthcare category of the 2008 DuPont Innovation Awards.

“Our product is a world first and it has the potential to dramatically reduce the incidence of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) in the workplace,” Sensear managing director Justin Miller said.

“These awards recognise that our technology can provide a safer environment for people working in high noise industries.”