Alcohol stocks ‘running out’ ahead of New Year’s celebrations

An events promoter has called on authorities to make an early decision about the staging of Crop Over 2022 to alcohol suppliers to stock up on beverages, as he expressed concern that companies were “running out” of alcoholic beverages to meet the demand for the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Orlando Newton, founder of the popular ticketing service TicketPal, told Barbados TODAY that some distributors of spirits have been unable to get their supplies on island due to persistent supply chain challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said stocks of the big names in celebratory alcoholic drinks, such as Champagne, Smirnoff and Ciroc, were low.

“When we call for products we are hearing now ‘we are sold out of that’. You know why? Because everybody was scared and they did not bring in the products to service the industry,” he told Barbados TODAY.

It is against that background that Newton, who is also operations manager of NewArch Inc. which is operating the newly opened Halo Ultra Lounge in St Lawrence Gap, urged Government to make an early announcement about whether there would be a Crop Over next year.

He said: “If we wait too long, with the shipping problems we are having right now across the world, we would not get enough products into Barbados. We would not get enough products into Barbados to do a proper Crop Over because the warehouses need to be full of products in order for us to be able to execute properly.

“When a guy has a band on the road they use hundreds of gallons of alcohol. If the warehouses don’t have it and you announce Crop Over in May, they can’t get it here in time. So, that is the problem we are having in the industry.”

The shortage of some alcoholic beverages was corroborated by some importers who also confirmed to Barbados TODAY that this was due to the ongoing issues surrounding shipping logistics, which started more than a year ago.

“Right now it is really a nightmare,” said one distributor, who explained that her company was still awaiting a shipment of spirits ordered nine months ago. “I have a container scheduled to come in from South Africa at the end of the month, which was ordered in March.”

While the time for a container to arrive on the island depends on several factors, the lead time was three to four months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adding that other industries were also affected, the distributor said: “The challenges faced with global shipping, everybody has faced them. It is not New Year’s Eve specific, it has been going on like this for a few months already. There has been no improvement as yet, just different reasons for the delays – there is a lack of vessels, a lack of containers, various reasons – but we have been affected like this for a few months already. I am talking about customers, to partners, everybody has been affected.”

“For example, Champagne, there is not enough. The demand is higher than the supply so there has been a shortage of Champagne, specifically, but it is not specific to one country of origin or one type of alcoholic beverage, it is right across the board,” she added.

Meantime, Newton expressed concern that while the local entertainment industry was on pause for close to two years, people overseas were busy creating opportunities that could possibly provide stiff competition for Crop Over and other festivals in the region.

“There were people creating festivals because there was nothing happening in the Caribbean. So, a colleague of mine started doing a festival in New York on the same day as Crop Over and he was successful. Now give me a reason why he should stop doing it as a businessperson? So, we have created a competition for ourselves by not getting involved in the marketplace [earlier]. Right now the Caribbean is absent from the entertainment sector,” he lamented.

Newton said he feared that with other places already announcing dates for their festivals in 2022, Barbados risks not being able to attract favourable numbers.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb