It’s high tourism season in Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye, and for weeks, businesses have been reporting a shortage of products such as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The leading supplier, Bowen and Bowen Limited has indicated that they experienced an interruption due to a breakdown in their production line. The issue has reportedly been addressed, and customers in the Cayes can expect the delivery of supplies to normalize in the upcoming weeks.
Bowen and Bowen Limited’s Relations Manager, Rosanna Villanueva, stated on January 19th that the interruption in production occurred over the Christmas holidays. She noted that production was down for about a week because an essential part from a machine needed to be replaced. “We ended up airfreighting the part from Germany, and the PET line is back now, and it is producing, but we do realize that it created some issues with supplies in some parts of our markets,” said Villanueva. “It is a work in progress; all of our lines are up and running, and we are hoping to get things normalized in the coming week.” That week has passed, and Ambergris and Caye Caulker businesses continue to complain about the shortages. On Wednesday, January 31st, a company representative said it would take another two weeks to normalize the flow of supplies on the Cayes.
Some affected establishments have reported the scarcity of plastic bottled water, Belikin beer, and certain types of soft drinks. Some stores only sell water pouches, and others have resorted to selling bottled water from a different brand. While Bowen and Bowen normalized their production, a representative added that they had other products in stock, like five-gallon water jugs and Sprite in glass. The company said they also had beers like Belkin, Red Stripe, and Heineken in stock. On Ambergris Caye, however, some businesses complained that these products were only sold to large establishments.
In both Cayes, the tourism businesses said they will continue trying to access the products they need to cater to their guests. They look forward to normalizing the product supplies from Bowen and Bowen Limited, the largest supplier in the country.
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