Published and written by The Canmaker Magazine
Plans for the development of Africa’s largest beverage can plant have been delayed following further political turmoil in Egypt.
It was expected that the plant built by Mahmood Saeed Beverage Cans & Ends Industry Company Ltd (MSCANCO) north of Cairo would have the second of its high-speed production lines operating by last summer.
The third and fourth lines were scheduled for operation by the end of 2018, when capacity would be more than five billion cans a year, making it the biggest in all of Africa.
But MSCANCO’s operations director Mohamed Gamal has revealed to The Canmaker that the second line is now to be started up in June.
Cans have been produced on the first production line since May 2016, making 330ml and 355ml sleek sizes for Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. “Next month [April] the line will be changed to produce 250 ml slim cans for the first time,” said Gamal.
The second line has been installed and like the first has a capacity for 1.3 billion cans a year.
“Line 2 is already installed but unfortunately we are behind the original plan to produce commercial cans due to changes in Egypt and currency devaluation that affected the project,” said Gamal. “We expect to start up the line in June and produce commercial cans by July.”
The US$160 million plant was built and engineered by US-based project integrator Roeslein & Associates for MSCANCO, which is based in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah.
Located north of Cairo at Km63 on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, half of the plant’s output is targeted at supplying major can fillers in the region.
MSCANCO began manufacturing beverage cans and ends at Jeddah in 2012 to supply cans to customers in the Middle East, and its wholly-owned sister drinks canner Mahmood Saeed Beverage Industry (MSBI), which markets a range of beverages from fruit juice and B Cola to energy drinks and mineral waters.
The first line at Jeddah has capacity to make 850 million cans a year in three sizes: 330ml, 355ml sleek and 250ml slim with plans to start producing 150ml and 185ml slim cans from July
The second line, which will run at up to 3,000 cans per minute and have capacity for 1.3 billion a year in 202/211 diameters with sizes of 330ml, 355ml and 500ml and 202/204 355ml sleek, is planned for installation in November 2017.