Until earlier this year, few carriers, shippers and transportation intermediaries would have considered Haiti as one of their places of business. The impoverished island nation offered little in terms of export and import opportunities. The World Bank had ranked the Haitian port system second worst in the Caribbean for corruption.
Then a massive earthquake struck Haiti's Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, leveling buildings and killing or maiming more than 200,000 people. To make matters worse, portions of the docks at Port-au-Prince collapsed into the sea and the infrastructure in and out of the city was cluttered with wreckage.
As quickly as the devastation reached news channels throughout the world, ocean carriers that traditionally serve Haiti, such as Crowley and Seaboard, rallied their staffs with a determination to quickly aid the Haitian people. Miami-based Sant' Shipping Lines, which started a single container vessel service to Haiti in October, immediately made its 12-bay cross-dock facility available for consolidations of relief supplies. Trailer Bridge donated equipment to serve as local storage in Haiti.
Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., waived all tariffs, such as docking fees, for cargo and vessels delivering relief supplies to Haiti, while express delivery giant UPS donated more than $1.8 million through its charitable foundation to the relief effort, including $500,000 of in-kind services to ship emergency supplies. FedEx has donated more than $1 million in cash to charities and in-kind airlift for Haitian relief.
The list of commercial operators who have stepped forward to offer their logistics and transportation services to government and aid groups to move food, medical supplies and other vital humanitarian assistance to Haiti goes on and on, despite weathering one of the worst economic downturns in the industry's history. Shipping undoubtedly showed its humanity.
But easing the calamity in Haiti is far from over. The shipping industry will be called upon for many months, if not longer, to help keep the aid supply chain efficiently flowing to Haiti. The efforts to rebuild Port-au-Prince will even offer numerous government-to-business export opportunities in the years ahead.
For the foreseeable future, Haiti will remain a tough place to do business. Let's hope the shipping industry continues to serve the aid and reconstruction missions in Haiti with compassion and integrity.
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