We have had many hurricanes over the years. Some of the damages were spectacular. But absolutely nobody had any concept of what a 200-mph hurricane could do. Some of the types of damages were unheard of before: boats broken in two, concrete docks disappearing, boats with keels blowing over roads – unheard of before; mentally shocking now.
We always got over the hurricanes pretty quickly. Maybe that was because the damage was “overseeable.” This Hurricane Irma is a little different.
Our confidence and our forecasting will grow as we can see the bigger picture; as we see some progress; as we see some light at the end of the tunnel. This is why it is so important to get the basics going early and quickly and for all involved to see progress and through this create business and customer confidence.
I was invited to give a presentation to the reconstruction committee, and in that presentation, I made the point that the marine industry had the potential to “bounce back” quickly and if asked, I would say that again in normal circumstances. Unfortunately, at that time, I had no clue that one of the government ministries would introduce regulations that had not been heard of before in Sint Maarten or in any other Caribbean island. The consequences are that the “bounce back” of the Sint Maarten marine industry is worse than any other post-hurricane experience whilst the need to recover was greater than ever before.
The hurricane did huge damage. Normally, this damage can be mitigated by removing the boats from the water quickly. This did not take place in 2017 due to restrictions suddenly imposed causing long immersion of some possibly previously repairable boats. The lengthy immersion causes rapid deterioration of certain boat parts and sometimes electrolysis which in turn causes tanks to break and more environmental damage than what would otherwise have been the case. The immersion causes the boats to have a terrible odour which does not disappear quickly.
So the challenge is greater than what it was before any previous hurricane. This one requires some very special activity. The worst thing would be if the rest of the world thought we were closed for business, so the first thing is to start making sure that normality returns. So we need to do things that are normal. Party, have regattas and fishing tournaments, and tell people how we are very active in dealing with the damaged boats. Send out lots of information that visitors have a chance of seeing that indicates we are open. The way to send the message that we are open is to behave like we are open.
