CEMEX commence cement supplies for Panama Canal

Company begins supplying more than 500,000 tons of cement for major expansion of key shipping route

CEMEX have begun supplying cement as part of their contract to provide over 500,000 tons of cement to Consorcio Grupo Unidos por el Canal, the primary contractor for the Panama Canal expansion project.

The CEMEX contract represents an integral phase of the expansion project, which includes the construction of two new locks, the excavation of access channels to the new locks and the widening and deepening of navigational channels.

Over the next three years, CEMEX will ensure a constant supply of specially designed cement products 24h a day, seven days a week, to meet engineering requirements on the construction of the third set of locks on the Panama Canal expansion project.

Over the past two years, CEMEX have invested approximately US$300 million in their Panamanian operations, including a threefold increase in cement production capacity in the country. In addition, a new fleet of cement transport trucks has been acquired specifically to comply with the supply requirements of the Panama Canal contract.

Meanwhile, CEMEX have been also named the primary cement supplier for the first phase of Reventazón hydroelectric plant project in Costa Rica. The US$ 1.2 billion plant will be the largest of its kind in Central America when the 311MW facility reaches completion in 2016.

As the primary supplier, CEMEX will provide 50,000 tonnes of cement for the first phase of this project.

The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, which is in charge of the plant’s construction, had several specific requirements for the cement used in the hydroelectric plant, including low heat hydration, high workability and improved durability.

CEMEX are one of the largest building materials companies in Central America with a cement production capacity of 3.3 million tonnes a year from three cement plants and two grinding mills located in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The company also has 30 ready-mixed concrete plants and seven aggregate quarries in the region.