WLRN’s The Sunshine Economy: Rebuilding The Northern Bahamas After Hurricane Dorian
The Sunshine Economy: Rebuilding The Northern Bahamas After Hurricane Dorian
Before Hurricane Dorian, SEACOR Island Lines would get about 600 phone calls a week at its Fort Lauderdale headquarters. After the storm, that jumped to over 2,000 calls a week as family, friends and companies looked for ways to get supplies to the islands. The demand increased so much, SEACOR’s employee of the year last year was the receptionist who answered many of those calls.
SEACOR is one of the cargo connections between South Florida and the northern Bahamas. It has nine vessels that service the Bahamas. It's freighters to Grand Bahama and Great Abaco Island represent about 20 percent of the company's revenue.
In the days after the storm, SEACOR cut its shipping rates to break-even for the affected areas. Because the island's financial infrastructure was so badly damaged — bank buildings and communications — clients had to pre-pay for weeks after the storm. It only restarted shipping on credit to Marsh Harbour in mid-December.
In the days after the storm, SEACOR cut its shipping rates to break-even for the affected areas. Because the island's financial infrastructure was so badly damaged — bank buildings and communications — clients had to pre-pay for weeks after the storm. It only restarted shipping on credit to Marsh Harbour in mid-December.
Inside SEACOR's warehouse near Port Everglades, piles of building supplies competed for space with Christmas and New Year's goods in mid-December. There were pallets of flooring tile, roofing material, washers and dryers, and plywood were among the shipments prepared to make the journey. Vehicles, too. Scores of sedans, trucks and SUVs, most used, were waiting to be loaded and sent over to replace vehicles destroyed in Dorian's storm surge.
"We consider ourselves a part of the Bahamian community and a lifeline that links South Florida to that community in the Bahamas," said SEACOR CEO Dan Thorogood.
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Reference to SEACOR Island Lines begins at 25:30