McInnis Cement executives were joined by Rhode Island Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, City Council President Luis Aponte, ProvPort Board Chair Paul Moura and members of the Rhode Island business community to celebrate officially breaking ground at the company’s first U.S. terminal in the Port of Providence last month. The overall cost of the project is expected to reach $22 million when completed, estimated for this coming winter.
A unique deep-water port that provides access to large, ocean-going ships, the Providence terminal will serve the entire New England construction market, including the metropolitan areas of Providence and Boston as well as the rest of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. McInnis will deliver ships with payloads of over 30,000 metric tons to the Providence terminal from the company’s plant in Port-Daniel–Gascons, Canada. The terminal’s facility will have the capacity to load about 100 trucks and around 10 railcars per day with cement.“We are proud to commence construction of our first terminal in the United States in the Port of Providence,” said Jim Braselton, senior vice president, marketing, sales and distribution for McInnis. “Thanks to the partnerships we’ve developed with state and city officials, our high-quality product will be able to efficiently and dependably reach customers throughout New England – an area that currently and routinely in the past has had challenges with reliable supply.”
McInnis is the first cement company to build a new plant that will serve New England in more than 50 years.
“The plant, strategically located in an area rich with limestone, is capable of producing 2.2 million metric tons of cement every year, which will meet the need for greater production in the U.S.,” said Braselton. “Our new plant will also put McInnis at the industry’s forefront by redefining the way cement is made, and taking a greener approach to the process to reduce the environmental impact for each ton of cement produced.”
Construction will begin shortly on the existing ProvPort warehouse, which will be transformed into a world-class receiving and storing facility. McInnis will also build a modern rail and truck station for loading purposes.
When the Providence terminal becomes operational, McInnis will directly hire up to 10 employees, including stevedores, as well as marine and trucking-related jobs. About 30 to 40 construction-related jobs will also be available while the ship-receiving facilities are being constructed, according to the company.
