THOMASTON – Dragon Cement and Concrete began talks this past week with Quebec’s Port Authority about the potential for expansion into Canada that would involve creating a marine terminal on the St. Lawrence River and possible upgrades to its Rockland waterfront terminal, according to company spokeswoman Beryl Wolfe.

Dragon’s board and officers met Tuesday in Quebec City with Quebec Port Authority officials.

“It was really an initial planning meeting to introduce ourselves and express our interest in expanding into Canada,” Joseph M. Koch III, Dragon president, said in a press release.

Dragon, which is owned by a Spanish holding company, operates New England’s only cement manufacturing plant, located in Thomaston.

In 1995, the company created an intermodal rail and barge system to ship its product from its Thomaston plant to Boston and New Hampshire.

As a result, Dragon was able to complement its traditional shipping by truck and rail and expand into new markets, which is what the company hopes will happen in Canada. Dragon supplied its product for the Big Dig project in Boston, Wolfe noted.

At present, Dragon does not ship to Canada, Wolfe said, adding that it was “too early to tell” just how much it might increase the company’s production.

If Dragon is able to strike a deal with the Quebec Port Authority to build a marine terminal, shipping to Canada may require some upgrades to the company’s Rockland waterfront facility, Wolfe said, but no major expansion.

Currently Dragon ships two to four barges per month to Boston and New Hampshire from Rockland, the spokeswoman said. One barge carries 4,000 tons of its product. The use of one barge takes 120 tractor-trailer trucks off the road, Wolfe said.

The focus of the first meeting was to explore the process by which the company would search for and purchase property for a marine terminal, according to the press release. The discussion also focused on location, traffic, regulations and environmental concerns.