Local entrepreneur Rayneau Gajadhar continues expanding his construction company’s horizons and footprints across the Caribbean by starting what’s been described as a new chapter in Caribbean maritime logistics.
Gajadhar’s company, Concrete and Industrial Equipment (CIE) Ltd, on Monday sailed into Port Castries one of the largest and most advanced tugs and barges known to the region, to assist in supplying equipment and raw materials for his operations in other Caribbean islands, including neighbouring Saint Vincent & The Grenadines and Dominica.
The giant tug ‘Workforce’ can carry 1,558 metric tons and with enough fuel capacity to allow it to operate at sea for over two months.
‘Workforce’ sailed in Port Castries towing ‘Mokesh’, a 330-foot-long, 80-foot-wide barge with a capacity of 7,450 metric tons, at the end of a journey from China to Saint Lucia, through the Panama Canal, that lasted over four months.
The Managing Director of RG Group of Companies, Gajadhar said on Monday morning: “It’s a massive investment—two brand-new, state-of-the-art pieces of equipment. And it did not happen overnight. We’re talking from 2017 to 2024.”
He also said it marks “both a financial and operational achievement” for his company.
Gajadhar said ‘Workforce’ and ‘Mokesh’ represent “a significant logistical feat and further expansion of RG Group’s shipping capabilities.”
With this fleet, he told reporters, “CIE aims to reduce transportation costs for construction materials, equipment and aggregates across the Caribbean, bringing increased efficiency to an essential sector.”
The two vessels will transport large quantities of building materials between islands, facilitating business operations and helping lower costs in neighbouring markets.
Gajadhar explained that CIE having expanded into the aggregate business in other islands and opening quarries across the region, this fleet will help it move equipment and products from one island to another — and lower the cost of doing business.
Meanwhile, Gajadhar says, CIE has also already invested in a second barge with a 4,000 metric tons capacity and a smaller but more agile tug.
CIE is by far the island’s largest and most successful construction company and Gajadhar has in the past decade expanded his business to Guyana, Dominica and St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Grenada and Antigua.