HURRICANE KATRINA UPDATE: 'Our biggest concern right now is the people,' said Doles Marta Maitles
HURRICANE KATRINA UPDATE: 'Our biggest concern right now is the people,' said Doles Marta Maitles
"I'm really concerned about some people down there. Our biggest concern right now is the people who live down there," Dole's Marta Maitles said in the early afternoon of Aug. 30.
Ms. Maitles, who is director of communications for Dole Fresh Fruit Co. in Westlake Village, CA, was speaking of Gulfport, MS, which took the brunt of the force of Hurricane Katrina and where Dole maintains a large facility to receive fruit imported from Latin America. National news reports at the time indicated that there were at least 55 deaths in Mississippi in the hurricane's wake.
"We are still evaluating the situation," Ms. Maitles said. "The port is under water. We know we lost structures and equipment, we just don't know the degree yet. Our plan for the immediate future is to divert the fruit to other port facilities."
She said that a northbound Dole ship was following the hurricane and was diverted to Freeport, TX; another Dole ship had unloaded in Gulfport just before the storm arrived. "I don't believe we lost fruit inventory" from that shipload, "just equipment inventory."
In the meantime, she added, "We have made phone contact with some of our people" in Gulfport. "We're trying to locate them all. We are waiting for them to call out. With cell phones, the incoming calls are the most disrupted."
Asked what will this do to banana prices, she replied, "I have no idea at this point."
Several Aug. 31 phone calls to produce companies in the New Orleans area by The Produce News were met by phone lines that were out of order or unanswered telephones.
(Additional updates on the impact of Hurricane Katrina will be posted on this web site as information comes in. A full report will appear in the Sept. 5 issue of The Produce News.).