Morton Back In Business

"Site General Manager Glenn Bannister and our employees at Inagua have made significant progress in the cleanup and repairs following Hurricane Ike," said Mr. George Bochanski Jr., the Manager of Executive Communications and Technology at Rohm and Hass, the Chicago-based company that manages Morton Salt.

"On Monday, September 29, 2008, harvesting of salt resumed and some product loading also has begun. Our emphasis has been on resuming operations in a safe and orderly manner."

The overall fate of the salt facility, however, is still unknown.

Morton Salt, Inaguas main employer, was forced to close it doors after the passage of Hurricane Ike last month. The storm resulted in the loss of millions for the salt facility and it was also speculated that the facility would close indefinitely.

A statement released yesterday from Mr. Bochanski outlined that employees whose offices were located in the damaged administration building have been relocated to temporary offices in Matthew Town and they are providing administrative functions in support of the resumed production.

"We expect to move these employees back to the site once temporary modular office space has arrived. At this time virtually all of our employees are back to work," he said.

Mr. Bochanski said while the full extent of the damages and the investment required to fully restore the operation needs to be carefully assessed, it is clear that the damage to the off-shore loading dock, production units, and processing equipment is substantial and will require significant capital investment.

"Decisions regarding capital improvements are made as part of Morton Salt’s annual capital spending and budget review process which will be completed by early next year," the statement read.

Meanwhile, a recent statement released from the company that provides public relations services for BEC, outlined that power has been restored to at least 90 percent of the Morton Salt facility.

Morton Bahamas has asked BEC to assume responsibility for electricity supply in Inagua.

Morton’s aged generation plant and transmission and distribution network can no longer meet the demands of a growing population for modern amenities. The negotiations are expected to be concluded shortly.

The seven-member technical team from Bahamas Electricity Corporation, returned to Nassau last Friday after spending two weeks engaged in restoring electricity to Inagua.

BEC General Manager Kevin Basden spoke of the Corporation’s motivation to get things moving again and the scope and success of the restoration work.  

"Our fellow citizens down in Inagua suffered as a result of Hurricane Ike," Basden said. "The overall objective was to assist and restore the power system as quickly as possible so that the residents of Inagua would be back in a position of normalcy.

"We are proud to say 100 percent of power has been restored in Matthew Town; there is one exception with the building that houses Batelco; some transformers are needed for that. The situation, as such, is that that high level voltage used in Inagua differs from what we use in New Providence and other family islands. So Morton Salt is attempting to source transformers and we are doing the same, as soon as we have them, they will be replaced," Basden said.