Businesses, markets resuming operations quickly after Beryl

Several large businesses that supply the goods and services that Jamaicans consume daily were in the process of resuming normal operations on Thursday after Jamaica’s brush with Hurricane Beryl.

But not everyone was ready to go, immediately. Much of Thursday was spent assessing damage, and ramping up operations in increments.

For example, at Jamaica Broilers Group, the top producer of poultry meat, the company said it experienced minor impacts and had resumed limited operations at the Best Dressed Chicken and Hi-Pro divisions, but expected to be fully operational on Friday, July 5.

Jamaica’s $2 trillion economy was shut down on Wednesday, on the order of the prime minister, in anticipation of a sweep by Hurricane Beryl, which was foretold as having historic strength and telecast as a phenomenon with the potential for great destruction.

But Beryl was not as devastating as feared, its destructiveness was evident at the shoreline, in flooded streets and drains, waterlogged farms, and downed trees and powerlines.

Still, its impact will be costly, some of which will be counted in lost production hours for businesses and diminished supply of goods and services. The size of the fallout will take time to fully assess.

Various businesses and organisations, which shuttered from midday or early afternoon on Tuesday, remained closed up to Thursday, including the central bank which operates the country’s foreign exchange market, beer maker Red Stripe Jamaica, and the Norman Manley International Airport, the main hub for air cargo, while the main gateway for tourists stayed shuttered for most of Thursday but was expected to be back in operation later in the night.

Some banking operations, such as JN Bank, also remained closed, but others, like the country’s largest bank, NCB, started reopening in phases on Thursday. However, customers of closed and reopening banks were encouraged to utilise the institutions’ online platforms to conduct their banking business. Bank of Jamaica said it was working with the banks to ensure full resumption of services in the shortest possible time.

The foreign exchange market was back in play, on Thursday, with the dollar settling at $157.10, reflecting an appreciation of 20 cents relative to Tuesday’s average price of $157.30.

The stock market, which accounts for $2 trillion of the wealth held in equities by investors, was back in business on Thursday with the full resumption of trading, albeit with the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s personnel carrying out their functions remotely. However, with a few exceptions, trading volumes were largely thin, with just 7.2 million shares transacted for $18 million.

Both the GraceKennedy and Lasco groups said their facilities received little damage and that they were working to have all locations back to normal by Friday.

GraceKennedy Group CEO Don Wehby said the company’s manufacturing plants were relatively unscathed with the exception of its meat plant in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, which lost some recently installed solar panels.

“I give God thanks that we seem to have come through okay,” Wehby said in an interview with the Financial Gleaner.

“We had just installed solar panels on our manufacturing plant in Sav-la-Mar and I understand that those were damaged, but in the scheme of things that is minor,” he said.

The Westmoreland facility makes several of the company’s popular meat products such as Vienna sausages, hams and hot dogs.

Meanwhile, Wehby said there were no negative reports coming out of the company’s plant in Hounslow, St Elizabeth, that processes hot pepper sauce, despite reports of Manchester and St Elizabeth being hardest hit by the Category 4 hurricane.

“There has been no major damage to infrastructure or buildings. We are ready to operate fully again, but the safety of our staff is the most important thing. We are doing our checks, company by company, to ensure the staff is fine,” he said, while noting that he was being updated hourly by his team.

Staff without electricity and water

A significant number of staff were without electricity and water, and this was affecting full operations of GraceKennedy’s businesses, he said.

Wehby also said assessments of the damage were being conducted by Key Insurance Limited and GraceKennedy General insurance, which are both part of the group.

Seven out of the eight Hi-Lo Supermarkets had resumed operations with the exception of the one in Spanish Town, but there was need for restocking at each location, Wehby noted.

He said the company was working to get all of its Western Union locations up and running by the latest Friday, to enable remittances to be sent. There are more than 200 Western Union locations in Jamaica.

Meanwhile, James Rawle, chairman of three Lasco-affiliated companies and managing director of Lasco Manufacturing Limited, said yesterday that the distribution affiliate was getting organised to resume deliveries of its products.

“On the manufacturing side we are getting ready to start up later today (Thursday). Our staff have turned out but we are short of a few people because some were affected (by Beryl) more than others. By tomorrow (Friday) we should be back in full production and in the full swing of deliveries to the trade,” Rawle said.

Lasco Manufacturing’s two main plants at White Marl, St Catherine, received little negative effects from the hurricane, he reported. Its generators had kicked in on Wednesday after the area lost electricity supply from the JPS-operated national grid. The JPS supply was expected to be restored sometime during Thursday.

Lasco Manufacturing has a staff complement of approximately 300 staff, with more on the distribution side, Lasco Distributors Limited, Rawle said.

He said things were normal at its pharmaceutical division and the financial services on Red Hills Road, St Andrew, with electricity intact, but “a bit of fluctuation with the internet”.

Commenting on the effects of the hurricane, Metry Seaga, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, said there had been little damage reported by the association’s members.

“We are grateful that the storm spared most of us the brunt of its power,” Seaga said. “We are meeting as an executive tomorrow to assess the extent of the damage to try and as a group assist those who have been most affected.”

On Thursday, the PSOJ was still gathering information out of Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth to get a better picture of Beryl’s effects.

Larry Watson, managing director of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, said while Jamaica overall has been spared the full brunt of Beryl, the southern coastal areas in particular “have suffered quite badly”.

He said the JCC members are “doing an assessment of their facilities and factories to resume production in critical areas like flour and oil”.

“Others in the distribution sector are readying their facilities to get back into full gear by tomorrow (Friday) morning,” Watson said.

He also said that while most supermarkets and wholesalers were open Thursday, their shelves were sparse as they were low on stock.

luke.douglas@gleanerjm.com