Ponce Cement Explained

Ponce Cement, Inc.
Type:Private
Foundation:Ponce, Puerto Rico (1941)
Location:Ponce, Puerto Rico
Industry:Construction
Revenue:$180 Million[1]
Num Employees:490+ [2]
Homepage:Website

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 Ferré 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 Ferré enterprise from 1941 to 2002. In 1950, Empresas Ferré 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 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] [12] After founding the Puerto Rico Iron Works, and the El Dia newspaper, Empresas Ferré entered the construction business with Ponce Cement, Inc., and subsequently with Puerto Rican Cement, Inc.[13] [14]

Over the 1940s, the company enlarged and Luis A. Ferré 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.[13]

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.[15] As of year 2000, cement was Puerto Rico's leading nonfuel mineralcommodity.[16]

See also

References

  1. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/CEMEX-SA-de-CV-Company-History.html CEMEX S.A. de C.V. Company Profile.
  2. https://www.adendi.com/archivo.asp?num=316300&year=1997&month=11&keyword= 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
  3. http://oaspub.epa.gov/enviro/fii_query_dtl.disp_program_facility?p_registry_id=110007806990 Facility Detail Report: Puerto Rico Cement Inc. (Ponce PR) Facility Registry System. US Environmental Protection Agency.
  4. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000638.pdf National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Edificio Empresas Ferre, a.k.a., Centros Isolina Ferre.
  5. http://welcome.topuertorico.org/history5.shtml History.
  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. .
  7. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000638.pdf National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Edificio Empresas Ferre, a.k.a., Centros Isolina Ferre.
  8. http://cementamericas.com/mag/cement_cemex_acquires_puerto/ Cemex acquires Puerto Rican Cement. 1 July 2002.
  9. http://www.cemexpuertorico.com/index.asp CEMEX, Puerto Rico.
  10. http://www.cemexpuertorico.com/ce/ce_pr_cp.html Cemento Ponce. CEMEX.
  11. Mariano Vidal Armstrong. Ponce: Notas para su Historia. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Segunda Edición. 1986. p. 88.
  12. https://www.gifex.com/puerto_rico_maps/Puerto_Rico_Minerals_Map_2.htm Puerto Rico Minerals Map 1999. PR Dept of Natural Resources, and USGS. 1999.
  13. http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2003/vol7n44/CBPRGrieves-en.html 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. 30 October 2003
  14. http://www.is4ie.org/Content/Documents/Document.ashx?DocId=79399 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.) 9 May 2006.
  15. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-7347373.html Puerto Rican Cement Company receives final approval for plant conversion. 23 February 1989.
  16. Web site: The Mineral Industry of Puerto Rico and the Administered Islands . U.S. Geological Survey . 29 December 2018.

Further reading

External links

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