The General Manager of the Caribbean Cement Company (CCC), Anthony Haynes, is warning that a shortage of the product this year could result in serious consequences for Jamaica. As a result, he says CCC must work efficiently to satisfy customer demands.
"We must avoid any shortage of cement ..." Haynes said at the company’s annual awards ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on Saturday night. "We dodged a bullet last year and I shudder to think what will happen this year if there is any repeat of such an incident," he said.
Last December, Carib Cement, which controls 83 per cent of the local cement market, had to import some 40,000 tons of cement because of the company’s inability to supply local demand. At the time, the company pointed to a three-day industrial action and the heavy rains associated with the 2005 hurricane season as the reasons for production shortfall.
But according to Haynes, 2005 has marked the end of the ’age of innocence,’ for Carib Cement. He is insisting that this year Carib Cement should not be complacent as a result of its dominance in the cement market as the company must meet the imminent challenges of globalisation to ensure the highest standards of safety while employing quality-control measures to achieve optimal performance at its plant.
(abstracted from the Jamaican Gleaner)
