A foul-up in ‘shipping logistic’ has been cited as one possible reason why a shipment of cement from Cuba failed to arrive in the island last weekend as planned.

Colin Campbell, the Minister of Information and Development, told the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that the boat, which should have delivered the 20,000 tonnes of cement to Jamaica, had not left Cuba.

“I am advised that the loading did not take place, and a new date has to be set,” Campbell, who had made the announcement of the proposed arrival of the cement a week earlier, conceded Monday.

“It (the vessel) should have been loaded over the weekend to sail for Jamaica, but it was not loaded over the weekend,” he reiterated.

Campbell said he was not sure what the problem was, but felt that it was possibly due to a slip-up in the shipping logistic, as the Bureau of Standards had already approved the cement for use in Jamaica.

Campbell said that the delay in the shipment had further complicated the cement shortage in the island.

At the same time, he noted that the cement shortage had not affected the construction work at the Greenfield Stadium and Sabina Park, locations for Cricket World Cup 2007, nor the Transport Centre in Half-Way-Tree, which were being treated as priorities and supplied from the 3,000 tonnes produced daily at the Caribbean Cement Company’s (CCC’s) Rockfort plant.

Meanwhile, Campbell noted that those people involved in the hotel projects were either importing their own cement, or were getting supplies from the CCC plant.

However, he described the shortage in the smaller retail trade as serious and a challenge.

“Where we have a very serious problem is in the retail market, what we know as the hardware market, that is where the crunch is being felt,” he said.

Campbell said that a return to normality now depended on the private sector importing approximately 521,000 tonnes of cement under a government waiver as quickly as possible.

“Basically, we expect the situation to ease down the line when these imports start to come in because the waivers have been given. Up to April 25, 14 waivers had been granted for the importation of 105,000 tonnes of the 521,000 tonnes. So we are hoping that those will come in very shortly to assist in the process,” he said.