Cement supplier expanding at Port Tampa Bay, bringing 25 jobs

A national, Houston-based cement and buildings material supplier has embarked on a major expansion of its operations at Port Tampa Bay and hopes to hire 25 local employees by April. 

SESCO Cement announced Thursday that it has completed installation of a large-scale, custom ship unloader at its berth in the Port Redwing site in Gibsonton. 

The company has been a tenant at the site since it signed an initial lease in 2019 for seven acres at a ship and rail terminal for deliveries of white cement. In 2020, that lease was expanded to include an additional adjacent 6.68 acres for more distribution and storage space, nearly doubling its footprint and providing 90,000 tons of storage capacity.

Installation of the new ship unloader marks a significant milestone in the company’s expansion efforts in the Florida market, a release says. 

The custom-designed and built ship unloader arrived in Tampa after a 25-day journey from Egypt, where it was assembled. It took nearly two years to design and engineer the machinery, which enables the company to receive and distribute high-volume bulk cement products and crushed limestone aggregate. Installing the ship unloader was the last component necessary for SESCO to begin full-scale operations at its newly-expanded berth, the release says.

The company anticipates moving up to 700,000 tons of materials through its Port Redwing facility by the end of 2026, the release says. 

“We’re very excited to establish our presence at Port Tampa Bay, one of the nation’s most strategically located ports,” Aly El Etreby, vice president of business development at SESCO Group, says in the release. “This investment reflects our commitment to the Florida construction industry and our confidence in the region’s continued growth. Our Tampa operations will allow us to deliver materials more efficiently while creating quality jobs in the local community.” 

As part of the expansion, SESCO has begun hiring 25 Tampa-based employees and hopes to have all positions filled by April. 

Founded in 2014, SESCO Cement is a subsidiary of the SESCO group, a manufacturing, shipping and logistics company with a global presence. In addition to its Tampa facility, SESCO Cement has a 22-acre facility in Houston that has a 240,000 ton storage capacity