Home  /  Industries  /  Cement, Fly Ash & Frac Sand
Cement · Fly Ash · Lime · Frac Sand

"Spot B just got hit by a truck." We already know what it needs.

Cement doesn't wear equipment out. It beats it to death. Strikes, dust, and cycle counts chew through gangways faster than any industry we serve. So we work it the way a terminal actually runs: we spec your spots before they break, service the springs so nobody's muscling a heavy gangway, fit cages built for hatches that swing either way, and when a spot goes down, the replacement is already on file and ships fast.

Since 2012Putting wraparound hatch cages on cement spots. The clearance problem, solved the year it was named.
A decadeOne Southwest cement producer: parts, gangways, and replacements. Year after year, spot by spot.
Pre-spec'dYour spots on file. Measurements, part numbers, springs. Before anything breaks.
Where cement eats gangways, and where crews get hurt

The hazard isn't just the height. It's what a beat-up gangway makes your operators do.

Every worn spring, short cage, and misaligned spot quietly teaches a crew to improvise on top of a trailer. Here's what we look for at every terminal.

The truck strike

A turn taken tight, and the gangway's bent steel. The metric that matters isn't whether it happens. It's how many days the spot is down afterward. Pre-spec'd replacements turn weeks into days.

Springs out of tune

Cement dust stiffens counterbalance springs until the gangway fights back. A heavy lift is how the bad habits start, and a spring adjustment is the cheapest fall protection you'll ever buy.

◖◗

The hatch that swings both ways

Pneumatic trailer lids open left or right depending on the fleet, and a traditional cage doesn't leave room for either. A wraparound cage, flared for full lid clearance, is the cement answer. We've been fitting them since 2012.

The lift-gap habit

When the spot doesn't line up, operators lift the gangway from the truck top to make space. The industry learned where that ends the hard way. Positive lockdown. Released only from the platform, never from the trailer. Closes the habit for good.

Dust on every moving part

Pivots, springs, rollers, treads. Cement and fly ash grind them all. Service cadence isn't a luxury here; it's the difference between a gangway that glides and one a crew stops using.

The unpowered spot

Powered gangways lock themselves, and they're the right call where the spot has power. Plenty of cement loadouts don't, and shouldn't need a trenching crew to get safe. Manual gangways with positive lockdown deliver the same protection, no conduit run.

How OSHA is likely to read your terminal

Four feet triggers the code. The lift-gap is what they've learned to look for.

Your platforms and stairs answer to 29 CFR 1910.28(b) from four feet, ladders to 1910.23, and the tops of trailers sit in OSHA's grayest enforcement territory, run as much by interpretation letters and the General Duty Clause as by code. But cement has its own history: real falls came from gangways lifted for clearance, and inspectors know the pattern. A spot where the cage doesn't fit the hatch or the springs fight the crew isn't a comfort issue. It's the documented start of the sequence they're trained to catch.

That's what the walk is for: we'll tell you which spots invite the habit, which cages don't fit your fleet's lids, and which of it is genuinely fine as-is.

Lockdown
Released from the platform, never from the top of the trailer. The gap an operator can't create is the fall that never happens.
The site frames the domains. The ruling. What your terminal actually needs. Comes from a walk, not a website.
The right-sized answers

Built for the way cement actually runs: hard, dusty, and on a schedule.

Spot gangways with wraparound hatch cages

Self-leveling gangways with full-clearance wraparound cages. Flared so the lid swings left or right without the cage coming off or the operator improvising. Manual with positive lockdown, or powered where the spot already has power. Engineered drawing and code references included.

The Inspection & Maintenance Program

We walk your spots, log every gangway's measurements and part numbers. Any major brand. Adjust the springs for an easy lift, and leave a spec list of what to watch. From then on, your terminal is on file: parts, service, and answers without a re-survey.

Pre-spec'd replacements & retrofits

Strike recovery measured in days: the replacement gangway, cage, or full spot retrofit is already specced before anything breaks. One call. "Spot B got hit", and it's moving, because we already know exactly what spot B is. More on gangway replacement & repair →

We'll also say it straight: mobile units rarely belong in cement service. The cycle counts and strike exposure are wrong for them, so we'll point you to a gangway instead. And the consumable side. Hoses, fittings, couplings, aeration components. Runs through our sister company Consolidated, on the recurring side of the same relationship.

Proven in cement service

The bench behind us has kept cement terminals loading for decades.

A Southwest cement producer. A decade of parts, gangways & replacements
Texas cement terminals. Serial gangway service
A national cement & aggregates group
A lime producer. Loadout access
Fly ash & frac sand loadouts. Same hatches, same physics
…and when the call is "spot B got hit," the replacement is already specced.
The Inspection & Maintenance Program

We learn your terminal before it breaks.

One walk: every spot measured, every gangway's part numbers logged. Whatever brand is on the nameplate. Springs adjusted for an easy lift, cages checked against your fleet's actual lids, and a written spec list of what to watch. From that day forward, your terminal is on file. Including the line nobody else puts in writing: what doesn't need replacing yet.

Standalone, or as part of the Operational Assessment (the whole terminal against every level of compliance, logged. Fee credited back on your first solution). Need just one problem solved? The Site Visit is free, every time.

Terminal Read: Cement Loadout, Spots A to DSAMPLE · CONFIDENTIAL
What we saw
Four spots, mixed-age gangways. Spot B springs stiff. Crews bracing to lift; new fleet's lids swing left, cage clearance short at A and B; no power at any spot.
How we read it
The short cage plus the heavy lift is the documented start of the lift-gap sequence. Routine elevated work, 1910.28(b), and a pattern inspectors know.
What you need
Wraparound cages at A and B sized to the new lids; positive-lockdown manual gangways across; spring service on all four. Part numbers and measurements logged to your file.
What you don't
No powered conversion. There's no conduit out there and the manual lockdown does the same job. No full rack rebuild. No mobile unit. Wrong tool for cement cycle counts.
What to watch
Spot D sits on the yard's tightest turn. Highest strike exposure. Replacement pre-specced and on file; if it gets hit, it ships without a re-survey.
Where we work

The Western cement corridors are our home ground.

The Front Range and Pueblo. New Mexico and the El Paso corridor. Utah's kiln country. Nevada and the Vegas build-out. Wyoming. Site visits measured in hours of driving, not a flight from the other coast.

Start with the program →
Two ways in

Start where your terminal actually is.

Get ahead of the next breakdown

Join the Inspection & Maintenance Program

Spots measured, part numbers logged, springs serviced, spec list in hand. Any major brand on the nameplate. Your terminal goes on file, and every call after that starts pre-scoped.

Schedule the first walk →
Something's down right now

Fast-lane a replacement

A spot's been hit or a gangway's done. Send the location and a couple of photos. If you're on file we're already moving, and if you're not, we'll turn the spec fast and get the spot back up.

Send the spot →
Cement terminals
Inspection program · fast replacement
Start