Cuba receives donation for cereal port unloading

Havana, March 13.- The World Food Program (WFP), together with the governments of Russia and the United Arab Emirates, launched this Thursday a grain unloader in Cuba that allows for savings of up to 100,000 dollars per week.

 

The equipment, installed in the Jose Antonio Echevarria Basic Business Unit in the port of Havana, cost 300,000 dollars and allows for the extraction of 200 metric tons of wheat per hour from the ships’ holds to the silos. This partially replaces the machinery in charge of this function, which suffered severe damage after a strong tornado passed through the Cuban capital on January 27, 2019.

According to Paolo Mattei, WFP representative in Cuba, thanks to the collective contribution, a slightly smaller crane than the one previously destroyed was put into operation, but capable of reducing the payment for the stay of the ships in the Havana docks, which is worth 12 thousand dollars a day.

The ambassador to Cuba of the United Arab Emirates, Bader Almatrooshi, referred to this as an example of the importance of international cooperation in difficult times and commented that his country has other projects of collaboration with the Caribbean island in energy matters.

Meanwhile, Sergey Reshchikov, Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Embassy in Havana, stressed that the installation of the grain unloader guarantees food security for the population of the Cuban capital and other nearby provinces.

The Director of International Economic Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Cuba, Carlos Fidel Martin, thanked for the support to launch the device that will benefit more than two million people in Cuba. (Prensa Latina)