Ponce Cement, Inc.

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Ponce Cement, Inc.
Type Private
Industry construction
Founded Ponce, Puerto Rico (1941)
Headquarters Ponce, Puerto Rico
Key people Antonio Ferre Bacallao, Luis A. Ferre
Products cement, lime
Revenue $180 Million[1]
Employees 490+ [2]
Website http://www.cemexpuertorico.com/ce/ce_pr_cp.html

Ponce Cement, Inc. was a cement and limestone manufacturer in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The company was located at the intersection of PR-123 and PR-500, in Barrio Magueyes.[3] It was founded in 1941[4] by Antonio Ferre Bacallao, a Puerto Rican industrialist of Cuban origin.[5] In 1963, the company became the first Puerto Rican company to go public and be listed in the New York Stock Exchange.[6]

Ponce Cement was part of the Empresas Ferre enterprise from 1941 to 2002. In 1950, Empresas Ferre purchased another cement enterprise, the Puerto Rico Cement Company, then owned by the Government of Puerto Rico.[7] In 2002, Ponce Cement, Inc. was sold to Cemex a Mexican business concern that is both the world's largest building materials supplier and the third largest cement producer, of which Ponce Cement is now a subsidiary.[8] The plant continues to operate at the same location, and continues to sell its products to the Puerto Rico market, but with the change in ownership, the company is no longer named Ponce Cement, Inc.; it is now Cemex, Puerto Rico.[9] The new owners did keep the Cemento Ponce product label.[10]

History

The Ponce Cement plant, where Cemento Ponce is manufactured, on Puerto Rico Highway 123 in Barrio Magueyes Urbano (the plant is now owned by CEMEX)

The municipality of Ponce was the perfect place to establish a cement plant as the type of soil needed for cement production is abundant in the region.[11] After founding the Puerto Rico Iron Works, and the El Dia newspaper, Empresas Ferre entered the construction business with Ponce Cement, Inc., and subsequently with Puerto Rican Cement, Inc.[12][13]

Over the 1940s, the company enlarged and Luis A. Ferre became its chief engineer. By 1960, the company had become the leading cement supplier on the island, much of it the result of increasing new highway and housing construction projects spreading throughout the Island.[12]

Approvals

On February 23, 1989 the Ponce Cement plant received approval for conversion from a wet to a dry manufacturing process, which allowed it to almost double its output.[14] As of year 2000, cement was Puerto Rico's leading nonfuel mineral commodity.[15]

References

  1. ↑ CEMEX S.A. de C.V. Company Profile.
  2. ↑ Comerciantes del Area Sur y Obreros de la Puerto Rican Cement Levantaron so Voz de Apoyo a la Decision Tomada por la Alta Gerencia de las Empresas Ferre de Demandar al Gobernador Pedro Rosello. 12 November 1997. El Nuevo Dia. p. 8 Accessed 18 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Facility Detail Report: Puerto Rico Cement Inc. (Ponce PR) Facility Registry System. US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  4. ↑ National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Edificio Empresas Ferre, a.k.a., Centros Isolina Ferre. Juan Llanes Santos, Historian. Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office. 19 June 2013. San Juan, Puerto Rico. National Register of Historic Places. ID # 13000638. Page 8. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  5. ↑ History. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  6. ↑ Guillermo A. Baralt. La Historia de El Nuevo Dia (1909-2000): "Al servicio de mi tierra". Page 569. Fundación El Nuevo Dia. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2002. ISBN 1-881720-82-9.
  7. ↑ National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Edificio Empresas Ferre, a.k.a., Centros Isolina Ferre. Juan Llanes Santos, Historian. Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office. 19 June 2013. San Juan, Puerto Rico. National Register of Historic Places. ID # 13000638. Page 7. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  8. ↑ Cemex acquires Puerto Rican Cement. July 1, 2002. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  9. ↑ CEMEX, Puerto Rico. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  10. ↑ Cemento Ponce. CEMEX. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  11. ↑ Puerto Rico Minerals Map 1999. PR Dept of Natural Resources, and USGS. 1999. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Caribbean Business: Puerto Rico Grieves Over The Loss Of Its Premier Statesman Four Months Short Of His 100th Birthday, Luis A. Ferre Aguayo (1904-2003). By Marialba Martinez. Puerto Rico Herald. October 30, 2003 Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  13. ↑ Carola Borja, Diana Dimitrova, Catherine Izard, and Rita Lohani. The Cement and Concrete Industry in Puerto Rico: An Industry Overview and Analysis. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies: Applying Industrial Ecology Tools to Island Economies. (Course: Industrial Ecology, FES 501. Spring 2006 Group Project.) May 9, 2006.
  14. ↑ Puerto Rican Cement Company receives final approval for plant conversion. February 23, 1989. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  15. ↑ The Mineral Industry of Puerto Rico and the Administered Islands. Retrieved November 29, 2009.

Coordinates: 18°1′1.56″N 66°38′19″W / 18.0171000°N 66.63861°W / 18.0171000; -66.63861

See also

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