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54 • ROCK products • September 2015 www.rockproducts.com sustainable funding mechanism. While today's action is also a stopgap measure, we're encouraged because it's specifical- ly aimed at giving Congress time to work on the DRIVE Act. Hopefully this three-month extension will be signed into law, and will be the last short-term transportation authorization we'll see for many years." PCA has long called for passage of a multi-year highway bill like the DRIVE Act. The DRIVE Act would finally break the pattern of repeated short-term patches, which have failed to provide the long-term investment needed to properly main- tain and expand our nation's transportation infrastructure. "We need to do everything we can to help our economy," said Toscas. "The economy depends on safe and efficient trans- portation. As our economy struggles to grow, transportation demands increase. After years of inadequate investment, the present system is simply not up to the task, and could end up choking the economy. The DRIVE Act will be a big step toward fixing this with sound infrastructure investment, and today's Senate action is a step toward the DRIVE Act." Cemex LatAm Sales Down in Second Quarter Cemex LatAm Holdings (CLH) announced that its consolidat- ed net sales reached $394 million during the second quarter of 2015, a decrease of 11 percent versus the second quarter of 2014. This decline is mainly explained by currency fluctu- ations and lower sales in operations in Colombia, noted the company. Operating EBITDA, adjusted for the currency fluc- tuations, increased by 2 percent during the second quarter of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. During the second quarter of 2015, consolidated cement volumes decreased by 3 percent, while ready-mix and aggre- gates volumes increased by 6 percent and 3 percent, respec- tively, compared to the same period last year. Carlos Jacks, CEO of CLH, said, "We are pleased with the con- tinued positive volume performance of our operations in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, where we are improving our volume guidance for the year. Additionally, our cement volumes in Colombia increased by 11 percent during the quarter compared with the first quarter of this year." In Colombia, during the first six months of the year, cement volumes declined by 11 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Compared with 1Q15, cement volumes increased by 11 percent during 2Q15. In Panama, cement volumes in the second quarter increased by 4 percent com- pared with the second quarter a year ago. In Costa Rica, volumes for cement, ready-mix and aggregates grew at dou- ble-digit rates during both the second quarter and the first half of the year, compared with the same periods of last year. "This year our priority is to continue working persistently towards improving our profitability, which has been affected by the depreciation of the Colombian peso," said Jacks. "Addi- tionally, we continue evolving as a company into a more cus- tomer-centric organization, offering differentiated construc- tion solutions to our specific customer segments." PRODUCTS HybridPro Industrial Bag Mondi launched a bag that offers weath- er protection and significantly extends the shelf life of its contents. The patent-pending HybridPro is a technically demanding combi- nation of paper and plastic, and is suitable for many industries and applications, particular- ly construction materials. With the HybridPro, building materials such as gypsum and cement have excellent protection against direct rain during shipping or on site. It also provides excellent protection against gradual moisture ingress during outdoor storage, thanks to the 40 μm thickness of the unperforated HDPE film. This means shelf life is longer than with standard paper bags, noted the manufacturer. For example, according to building materials producer Knauf, who collaborated in developing the HybridPro, gypsum packaged in the HybridPro enjoys an eight-month shelf life when stored outdoors with no further protective layer – twice as long as if packaged in a standard paper bag. T h i s p e r f o r m a n c e o u t d o o r s m a k e s t h e b a g v e r y user-friendly and has benefits when it comes to stream- lining the supply chain of fillers and end-consumers. Since the bag can be filled on conventional paper bag filling sys- tems, investment in FFS systems, which tend to be expen- sive, is not required. The bag's outer ply – which forms the barrier against rain, moisture and dust – is made of plastic film, giving it an attrac- tive, modern appearance. The HDPE film can be printed in up to eight colors, including on the bottom patches, for a glossy, premium look, and the paper ply is available in a bleached or an unbleached version.