Cemex, CCC in talks over floating cement plant
Jamaican firm Caribbean Cement Company (CCC) is in negotiations with Mexico’s Cemex in an effort to reach a supply agreement to help cover shortfalls in the local market, according to local news reports.
Under the agreement, a floating Cemex packaging plant would periodically berth at a Jamaican port to bag and deliver cement. "We are still in negotiations, but we have already identified a vessel and the port," CCC’s public relations manager, Lystra Sharp, was quoted as saying. Further contract details were not reported.
Caribbean Cement’s plant at Rockfort, in eastern Kingston, has a rated capacity of 1Mt/y of cement, but technical and other problems have caused it to produce below that level at a time when cement demand is on the rise, the paper reported.
Further, the company has had to face compensation claims from consumers who claim that the CCC cement they purchased was substandard, affecting construction works.
According to CCC, local Portland cement demand reaches about 1Mt/y, but cement importers argue that the real demand comes to more than 1.3Mt.
Cemex hold plants in Latin America, Asia and Europe and is among the world’s largest producers of Portland cement. It has a 20% stake in CCC’s parent company, Trinidad Cement, and a 10% holding in CCC.
Published under Cement News
