One month after the announcement that Cuba began to fill the first ship with the rajón stone, which it will export to Mexico for the construction of the controversial Mayan Train project, the ship is still docked in port area number two of O’Bourke, of the port from Cienfuegos.
The Cuban Government confirmed on December 11 past that it will export up to 200,000 tons of material per month, of which a tenth was already stored.
However, César Rosell León, director of the Downtown Port Services Company, admitted that the “pioneer” ship has barely been loaded with half of the first planned shipment, of 25,000 stone tons to make gravel, and that they hope to complete the shipment “in just a few days,” the Cuban News Agency (ACN) published this Wednesday.
The official even assured that a second ship is anchored in the port waiting to load another 18,000 tons.
According to the director, the dock operators have “great experience” in handling bulk cargo, such as corn or soybeans, but they are “much more noble” tasks compared to loading the rock, so these activities “are novel.” for port properties.
César Rosell León, director of the Downtown Port Services Company, admitted that the “pioneer” ship has barely been loaded with half of the first planned shipment of 25,000 stone tons to make gravel
The handling of the stones, some up to a meter in size, is a “strong and rustic task” for which various types of transport and freighters with experience in the construction and automotive transport sector are required. At first, added the director, the process was “a bit cumbersome”, but the brigades managed to adapt with a handling of 4,500 tons per day.
The material is extracted from the Arriete quarry, in the Cienfuegos municipality of Palmira, and then transported by rail to open-air warehouses in the port area. Later, the construction or transport freighters bring the stones closer to the dock and, with a very rudimentary system of large steel containers, called cages, they lift them onto the ship with cranes.
The Cuban authorities assure that this material will serve as gravel for the “cushioning or support of the tracks” of the Mayan Train, a railway line of about 1,550 kilometers that will travel through the three states of the Yucatan peninsula (Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo) ” in support of the sustainable development of their peoples,” says the ACN note, omitting several complaints that warn that the project is harmful due to the destruction of entire ecosystems of jungle and cenotes (underground springs).
Environmental organizations and the opposition accuse the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador of ignoring environmental legislation to build the project, classified as a “national security work.” In addition, they point out alleged irregularities in the financing, which exceeds 15,000 million dollars.
The Cuban government anticipates that in the first month of commercialization, 90,000 tons of stone will be handled and that, gradually, it will increase until it reaches a rate of 200,000 per month.
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