Relief arrived for the construction industry this week in the form of a ship bringing 6,500 tonnes of cement.

As soon as the Grit Cement IV docked at 7pm on Monday at Dockyard to replenish the dwindling stocks in Maxcem Bermuda’s silos, trucks were lining up to get loaded.

Chris Shanks, manager of Maxcem Bermuda, said his team had been working around the clock to meet pent-up demand in the wake of a severe cement shortage on the island over previous weeks.

By 3pm yesterday, Maxcem had sold nearly 370 tonnes of cement in less than 48 hours since the ship arrived - representing more than a quarter of a typical month’s sales.

“Trucks have been coming at all hours and we have rotated our team of four so we could provide a 24-hour service,” Mr Shanks said. “It’s just starting to slow down.”

The recent shortage had left contractors scrambling for cement to keep building sites working, as many materials suppliers restricted the number of bags available to individual buyers.

The supply constraints were the result of the rescheduling of a shipment from international supplier Cemex that had been due to arrive in mid-August. Although Maxcem aims to maintain a buffer of about 1,500 tonnes — just over a typical month’s supply — to allow for a late shipment, this had virtually run out by last week.

Mr Shanks said the ship that supplies Bermuda carries about 12,000 tonnes. Because Bermuda has the capacity to take only 6,500 tonnes, each shipment has to be scheduled to make another drop-off in a location such as Nassau.

Demand for cement had been steady, Mr Shanks added, averaging between 1,300 and 1,400 tonnes per month. The delivery schedule allowed for a 6,000-tonne shipment every four months — the previous one arrived in April. Between them the silos hold about 11,000 tonnes.

Mr Shanks said the next cement shipment was due to come in mid-December.

Builders are busy, with work ongoing on a number of major projects, including the Luscar Place office building on Pitts Bay Road, which is due to be completed next year.

The most recently released economic data from the Department of Statistics show that the estimated value of construction work put in place during the first quarter of 2026 increased by 9.4 per cent year over year to $45.6 million.

The value of new projects started during the first three months of the year was $60.3 million.

Private sector construction increased approximately 17.1 per cent to $20.8 million in the first quarter, while public sector construction increased approximately 3.3 per cent to $24.7 million.

Public sector investment in construction reached its highest quarterly level since the first quarter of 2013, when it was estimated at $29.2 million.