TANK-WELD Metals has boosted exports to the region, expanding its reach into eight islands in the last two years as the company realises the benefits of operating its bulk materials port in Rio Bueno, Trelawny.

Chris Bicknell, chairman and CEO of Tank-Weld Metals, said the company’s push into the export market was part of the reason it invested in the port.

“We’ve been doing exports on a much smaller scale, starting back in 2010, but it is only in the last two years that we have made inroads into the islands by making proper use of the logistics hub we have at Rio Bueno,” Bicknell told the Jamaica Observer.

Tank-Weld Metals — a producer and distributor of building materials, heavy duty equipment including Chinese-made Shacman trucks and forklifts — built the port at Rio Bueno in 2006 immediately following revelations that sub-par cement was being supplied into the local market, “to be able to efficiently bring bulk material in through the north coast and to distribute it efficiently across the country”.

Bicknell said the port was conceived then as a hub for the Caribbean to import and export products. It has warehouse space covering the equivalent of over 10 acres in which products are stored for both the local and export markets. At Rio Bueno, Tank-Weld has spent about US$100 million so far and employs 300 people. But it’s in the export market that the company is seeing strong growth.

“It has been phenomenal growth. We have seen a 500 per cent increase year-over-year and we have made inroads into eight islands, and we are able to provide these islands with a reliable shipping schedule which is really where they are disadvantaged, because they have to rely on the container vessels which don’t call on the islands regularly,” he continued.

The islands to which Tank-Weld exports now are The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Barbados. Most of the products sold to those islands are the building materials Tank-Weld either produces locally or imports for distribution throughout the region, including here in Jamaica. The items include steel, cement, zinc, doors, chain link fencing, fabric mesh, nails, roofing and toilets amongst other items. The products it makes in Jamaica, like zinc and nails, are sold duty-free in the islands under the Caricom Treaty. It also sells its Shacman trucks in the said islands and also in Guyana.

“We have turned our focus to exports, a couple years ago, in a major way and the response has been incredible. We are also able to respond to islands when they are in need, like we did for St Vincent so quickly after Beryl,” Bicknell stated.

He pointed out that Tank-Weld was able to dock a ship at the port in St Vincent and the Grenadines just a day after Hurricane Beryl hit the island, supplying US$2 million worth of building materials to help in the recovery after the devastation.

“So we are now taking advantage of the logistics and the efficiencies of the Rio Bueno facility,” Bicknell added.

He said the ports in the eastern Caribbean tend to be smaller and can’t accommodate large vessels which would be more cost-effective for them.

“Having established relationships in these islands which are growing from strength to strength, we are looking to have a greater presence now and have been establishing partnerships with some of the customers that we work with,” he added, noting that some of the partnerships include making an investment so that he can help to make the customers grow.

As for the local market, Bicknell says the company is “expanding quite aggressively with new manufacturing lines”, though he said he is not yet ready to make an announcement about the new products Tank-Weld will be producing, saying they will come on stream “in the next month or two”.