Company that’s worth its salt

The big freeze in the US has meant a big boost to business for a small firm that deals with salt in Bermuda.

The huge demand for de-icing salt in the States has meant Compania Minera Cordillera (Bermuda) Ltd. has shipped three times as much salt this winter compared to last.

The firm charters vessels for the import of salt that carry between 20,000 and 60,000 tonnes to the US East Coast .

Company administrator, Ximena Marshall, told the Bermuda Sun business had always been season dependent.

She added: “The last couple of years have not been that great as the winters were quite mild.

“And in the 2012-2013 winter season we shipped approximately 500,000 tonnes of salt to the Eastern sea board.

“But this year demand has gone through the roof due to the cold weather in the US.

“So far this winter we have shipped 1,880,000 tonnes of salt to keep up with this year’s demand.” Ms Marshall is responsible for all the logistics and arrangements to ensure the salt orders arrive at their destination in the US.

She added: “We import the salt and it gets distributed across the eastern sea-board from Georgia up to Maine.

“The bulk of the salt comes from Chile and Mexico and comes through the Panama Canal for delivery.

“There are lots of logistics and the timescale can vary, but an average voyage tends to be between 19 and 22 days.” One of the company’s directors, Bill Manuel, added: “This year has been a very successful year and has exceeded our expectations.

It is interesting how Bermuda started in the salt industry in Turks and Caicos way back and now we’re still involved in the trade.