An ordering blunder led to Bermuda?s cement stocks running out yesterday by lunchtime with new supplies not set to arrive until Monday.

Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) said February had seen record demand which had totally drained its stocks.

BCC president Jim Butterfield said: ?We owe the public and businesses an apology but we are out of cement.

?We made a mistake with the order. There was a price increase and a couple of people rushed the plant wanting to stock up before the increase on March 1.

?We have had the highest sales in February ever.?

The problem has been compounded after Saturday?s scheduled shipment had to be pushed back to Monday.

Mr. Butterfield said he was trying to arrange two shipments. ?We are trying all resources to get vessels to Bermuda.?

However, he also said part of the problem had been the continuing uncertainty around the plant.

Last December the company reduced its inventory to clean out its silos as its 40-year lease neared its end with no extension in sight. The situation saw drivers sleeping in their trucks to get an early crack at dwindling supplies.

However, an eleventh hour deal with landlords West End Development Corporation (Wedco) gave BCC a year?s extension.

Mr. Butterfield said: ?With the exceptionally high demand for cement since that time we have simply been unable to build the inventory back to the appropriate level.?

With a quarter of the year gone he said there was no word from Wedco about getting a new lease although there were now rumours about another entity wanting to sign a ten-year lease to run the site.

?It?s a peculiar situation,? he said. ?We cannot go further ahead with the development plan.? His company wants to invest in a new plant at the Royal Naval Dockyard but needs something in writing before taking that step.

Mr. Butterfield said the landlord was trying to squeeze BCC out.

Calls to Wedco led to being referred to quango consultant Glenn Brangman, who is in charge of reorganising Wedco, Bermuda Housing Corporation and Bermuda Land Development Company,

He said: ?I cannot make a comment, I don?t know anything about them. I haven?t spoken to them.?

Asked why he hadn?t spoken to them, he said: ?I have nothing to say about BCC.?

Alex DeCouto, president of the Construction Association of Bermuda, said the hardest hit by the concrete shortage were Bierman?s and SAL, which produce concrete and concrete blocks.

?They need delivery on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day. Demand is intense. When they don?t have production capacity they send people home.?

He said other sectors of the industry could work on other projects until the concrete came although it meant concrete pours scheduled for this week might get cancelled.

Mr. DeCouto said he understood BCC would be arranging more frequent shipments ? possibly moving from monthly to every three weeks.

Mike Bierman, CEO of Bierman?s Concrete Products said: ?I will probably be out of cement by tomorrow afternoon and have nothing to work on.? But he declined to comment further.

Asked how his customers were reacting, SAL CEO Bill Morrison said: ?We are doing the best we can with them. It?s difficult. We are working on it as we speak.?