In a high-precision procedure, which lasted just over 30 minutes, brigades of Chinese professionals today carried out the assembly of the dome corresponding to the new fuel tank 49-1, the first of four currently under construction at the Supertanker Base, in the industrial zone of this city.

Héctor Clark Silot, technical head of the Integrated Project Directorate (DIP) of Supertankers in Matanzas, explained that the procedure constitutes a milestone if one considers the short time elapsed, from the start of the works last March, to the placement this Monday of the aluminium cover, 74 metres in diameter and weighing 68 tonnes.

Now the 49-1, with a capacity to store up to 50 thousand cubic metres of fuel, will continue its construction stage with the placement of access points, cooling and fire-fighting systems, the automatic and electrical parts, in addition to the hydraulic test to check the tank’s airtightness, the anti-corrosive treatment, the exterior painting and the assembly of the technological pipelines, the specialist elaborated.

Clark Silot also pointed out that the tank’s functionality will depend greatly on the completion of three others, 86, 87 and 88, which thanks to the effort of Cuban and Chinese workers already show advances in the so-called industrial zone of this city, and should be concluded in the coming year 2026.

The construction of these four new tanks aims to recover the storage capacities, estimated at a total of 200 thousand cubic metres, following the losses caused by the large-scale fire recorded at the site in August 2022.

Recently, Manuel Marrero Cruz, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and Prime Minister, verified the progress of the works at the Supertanker Base and highlighted the effort being made to comply with the material requirements, in a context marked by the energy crisis on the Island.