Cruzan resumes production after Hurricane Maria

Beam Suntory’s US Virgin Island-based Cruzan Rum distillery has restarted production following a temporary shutdown because of damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

Cruzan rum’s distillery sustained damaged from Hurricane Maria

The distillery, located on the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, suspended operations for three weeks. It has now repaired the damage and “does not expect any supply disruptions in the marketplace”.

While some warehouses were damaged during the category five hurricane, which caused catastrophic damage across the Caribbean last month, rum supply was not affected.

Previous investments provided the distillery with its own power generators, allowing “the timely resumption of rum production”.

SVP of global supply chain at Beam Suntory, David Hunter, said: “Our first priority was to establish the safety and wellbeing of our employees, and to help them get back on their feet. We airlifted in 35 restoration workers with necessary equipment and supplies to help get the distillery back up and running safely.

“In partnership with our friends at Diageo, we teamed up to ship to St. Croix a container of relief supplies, including 90 generators and drinking water.”

Parent Company Beam Suntory recently provided more than US$2 million to support disaster relief in the USA, Mexico and USVI. This includes US$1 million to the American Red Cross.

The company also provided US$200,000 to the Mexican Red Cross following the recent earthquake.

According to Beam Suntory, Cruzan will soon announce a programme to further support the ongoing recovery in the US Virgin Islands.