Good afternoon readers. As our power continues to be out we apologise for the delay in telling you about the great work that the Lions Group did in helping with the relocation of the temporary field hospital as the current storm started to bear down on the city.
We understand that a significant logistics effort was made, during already severe weather to ensure that supplies and equipment were shipped to the temporarily more secure buildings, including the Hathian theatre and CU Clinic.
While the city continues to deal with the storm, including the power outages and flooding it’s good to know that individuals out there have been trying to make things work.
On the 3rd of September (and again, delays were due to the Observer’s website, presses and backups failing) we caught up with Ashlee Redenblack, who we’ve profiled before in this paper as COO of the Lions Logistics and Warehousing businesses. The weather was foul, but but after being invited inside their boarded up office near the arcade we got down to the interview.
Daiyu: “So, can you tell me what you’ve been up to? I’ve seen a lot of heavy equipment around, fighting through the weather.”
Ashlee: “Well, we helped evacuating the Hospital equipment and some medical supplies during the last couple of days from the field hospital. We brought in cranes and our trucks from the port and then in consultation with the HGH administrator Dr. LeMarchand we moved some equipment to the CU clinic with the rest are laying at our Warehouses. We want to even help more and reach more people and businesses as well”
Daiyu: “So you helped the city get ready considering a tent city couldn’t survive out there… It’s great to have some good news for a change considering the power is flickering and the storm is getting worse… I always like to have good news alongside the ‘oh shit we’re screwed’ kind….”
Ashlee: “We are thankful to Dr. LeMarchand and his trust he placed on us for our help. Our warehouses are equipped with generators to maintain a cooling system for products like fresh food, vaccines , blood bags and medicine. We’ve got a good amount of fuel as well and this is the reason why we could help keep medical stuff in safe hand. We have also contacted the HCS and Mr. Elliot there gave us some list of supplies the municipality has assigned a special budget to provide Hathian with. We are in the process to work every good source we have among our clients who usually ship with us and use our service from other cities to provide the Civil Service here with this list of items.”
Daiyu: “With this weather though, I doubt you can get anything in via port? Once the weather clears up, what kind of supplies can you get back to the city, incrementally to whatever you already had in stock?”
Ashlee: “Yes, we might face some delays but we have been promised three containers per week with our barges that usually travel to New Orleans and back Hathian. Our connections outside Hathian are ready to extend their hands to help as much as they can and as long as the circumstances allow.”
Daiyu: “I see… well that’s good in this city right now, cold storage for medical and other supplies is going to be needed, although our forecasters say the storm is going to be a big one… So is there anything else you’d like to cover, any particular business you’d want to reach out to, that kinda thing?”
Ashlee: “What I would like to highlight here is we can do the same thing on small scale as much as how we succeeded to do it on the larger scale with HGH. As you are well aware, we have always been there for charity work. What we can do now is work with the small businesses of Hathian to get them their supplies as soon as we can. We can consolidate the orders in containers and do the paperwork and other aspects for getting it for them. I also want to say, while the goods will cost whatever their list price is, we will waive our fees for logistics, organising, containerisation, port fees and the like. We will not let them pay any thing except for what they are being invoiced by the suppliers we know. We will handle the payment with those suppliers first. Later, the business or the people can pay after Hurricane time pass and to those suppliers not to us. As for transportation, we will not charge any thing either. Again it is for free, for how bad the situation is becoming. We do not want to put financial burdens adding to the emotional one they will suffer”
Daiyu: “That sounds extremely generous. So in effect you will facilitate logistics for business in Hathian without your usual mark-up? I remember your old ads where you charged for this service.”
Ashlee: “Yes, that’s right and for a period that is appropriate we will also offer:
- Free refrigerated racks at our warehouses.
- Free storage places in normal warehouses
- Free transportation to move their products
- Where we can, free cranes to remove any damage may happen to houses or buildings any where in Hathian due to storm or flooding”
Next Steps
Well readers, it’s very generous. Citizens in need of logistics once the storm have passed or in need of help with movement of rubble or the like should contact Ashlee Redenblack ((In world: Ashlee Redenblack)) or one of the Lions staff.
We hope that the storm won’t cause such a huge amount of damage, but in this city, who knows? Stay safe citizens!
