Despite fears that it will take months to rebuild port facilities in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that were wrecked by an earthquake on Jan. 12, construction and shipping industry representatives say the damage will not prevent them from pouring building materials and equipment into the country as soon as they are given the go-ahead by officials.
“The port being destroyed won’t be a hindrance...not if you have an experienced heavy-lift operator,” says Jerry Nagel, CEO of U.S. operations for Rickmers-Linie, Hamburg, Germany. “Most of the time we bring equipment to jobsites that aren’t on the main port. We’re moving in very primitive situations, so we are always engineering and improvising to land equipment.”