Jarmila Jackson, Features Writer

A pump attendant fills a tank at a service station along Old Hope Road, St Andrew. Instability continues to affect the international oil market, with oil prices dipping just below US$129 per barrel on Tuesday. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

Jamaicans are trying desperately to keep their heads above water, and oil.

There are those who have traded in cars for motorcycles, and downgraded from motorbikes to bicycles. Businesses have had to slash expenditure and manpower to avoid going under, but there is at least one company trying hard to maintain its staff complement.

Tony Bssat, manager of distribution at Tru-Juice, which has a large share of the fruit-juice market, says the company has been deeply impacted by increasing fuel costs.

"It affects the planting, the garage, the tractors on the field. There is a lot of consumption between the trucks that go out for sale and the trucks that go out for delivery.

"We try to reduce the number of trucks we send out, since we use our own. So instead of sending out 20 or 21, we try to use the maximum capacity of each truck and might end up reducing that number to 17, but it is still very expensive, especially when we have to rent trailers," he said.

Herculean challenge

Bssat explained that while the company was arduously working to prevent staff cutbacks, keeping that commitment presents a Herculean challenge.

"We try not to cut back on manpower, but because we reduced the number of trucks that go out. There are delivery guys just sitting around hardly doing anything. Their salary ends up being reduced because they get paid according to how often they go out," Bssat said.

The consumer, at the bottom of this economic food chain, is also inevitably affected. "We increased our prices about three months ago. We can't function without increasing the price," says Bssat. "The price of raw material goes up, there is shipping, manufacturing and all other types of costs to consider."

jarmila.jackson@gleanerjm.com