Cuba prioritizes high allocation of cement for provinces affected by Ian

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Oct 21 (ACN) Cementos Cienfuegos has sent more than 7,900 tons (t) of its main product, in the last 15 days, to the territories affected by Hurricane Ian, which hit western Cuba in late September and severely damaged the infrastructure of homes and buildings.

The workers of Empresa Comercial Cemento (ECOCEM), in charge of the sale and transfer of the so-called "gray gold", has been quickly dispatching the volumes destined for the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Havana and the special municipality of Isle of Youth.

Juan Jose Hernandez Puerto, Commercial Chief of ECOCEM, told the Cuban News Agency that the resource is transported by motor vehicle, of which the largest amounts were sent to Pinar del Rio and to the distributor located in Mariel, while more than 700 tons were shipped to the Isle of Youth by skiff cabotage.

He said that, for the first time, they assumed the use of rail transport to move cement to the provinces of the westernmost region, with formations of a dozen ferro-silos.

Hernandez Puerto added that they work 24 hours a day with an average of about 100 trucks a day.

They also work 12 hours a day to fill the 17 ferrosilos, each with a capacity of 56 tons.

He added that considerable levels of mortar are used for the production of construction materials by state entities in several provinces such as Havana and Santi Spiritus, in order to support the needs of wall elements and water tanks, among others.

Cementos Cienfuegos is the largest producer of its kind in the country, and was opened in 1980 with German technology.