Sources: McInnis Cement, Montreal; CP staff
Rhode Island and Providence officials joined McInnis Cement executives for an early-August groundbreaking at the deep-water Port of Providence, where the producer is building a 30,000-plus ton capacity terminal linked to its Port-Daniel-Gascons mill under construction in eastern Quebec.
The $22 million facility will can serve much of the New England construction market, especially across Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. McInnis Cement plans loading capacity up to 100 tankers and 10 railcars daily. “Thanks to the partnerships with state and city officials, our high-quality product will be able to efficiently and dependably reach customers throughout an area that currently, and routinely in the past, has had challenges with reliable supply,” says McInnis Senior Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Distribution Jim Braselton.
Sited along a Gulf of St. Lawrence inlet, he adds, the Port-Daniel-Gascons operation is the first North American greenfield mill New England concrete producers have seen 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.,” Braselton affirms. “[It] will place 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 produced.”