Katrina Recovery: Contractors Assess Damage

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 9/26/2005

As the city of New Orleans starts to breathe again, general service contractors have begun to assess damage to their Big Easy facilities and rally to help unfortunate workers from the area.

While one contractor's New Orleans warehouses suffered little damage from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, another firm's buildings were left slightly submerged.

The Freeman and GES Exposition Services New Orleans warehouses were both temporarily closed by the storm and, like most of the city, inaccessible for several weeks.

Freeman and its AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions division operate three New Orleans warehouses, employing more than 250 full- and part-time workers. The buildings, totaling more than 260,000 square feet, were not under floodwater, but sustained initial damage from the hurricane winds and rain.

One GES employee was able to briefly view the firm's three New Orleans facilities two weeks after the hurricane hit. The facilities, which span 128,000 sq. ft., employ approximately 40 full-time and 30 part-time GES and Exhibitgroup/Giltspur workers. "There is some flood damage," said GES spokeswoman Detra Page. "It's too early to know the full extent of it."

Freeman is the official service contractor for The NACS Show, produced by the Natl. Assn. of Convenience Stores. The Tradeshow Week 200 show, originally scheduled for Oct. 30–Nov. 1 at the city's Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, was relocated to the Las Vegas Convention Center and rescheduled to Nov. 15–18.

Freeman spokeswoman Ellen Beckert said the company had received "very minimal freight overall from NACS."

Freeman still has equipment remaining at the Morial center, which is closed through March 31. The company expedited move-out of exhibitor materials on EMS Expo before the storm, leaving its own equipment behind.

The two general service contracting firms are also deeply concerned about their New Orleans-based employees. Many people lost homes and belongings because of the storm, while others don't yet know what may be left.

GES President and CEO Paul Dykstra in a statement called his firm's employees "our greatest asset." He added, "Many of our employees were severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina, and it's important to provide assistance to them as they work to rebuild their lives."

Both GES and Freeman have relocated New Orleans-based employees to other company locations and established charitable funds to help their workers. Freeman Chairman and CEO Don Freeman said in a statement, "This effort will give them the ability to return to some stability for their families, enabling their children to enroll in school and providing them with stable income."

The two firms are operating emergency employee hotlines. Because of Freeman's hotline, almost all of its New Orleans employees were accounted for within two or three days of the storm. The last call came in seven days after flooding began, after an employee was rescued from a rooftop in downtown New Orleans.

Freeman created and contributed to the Communities Foundation of Texas Freeman/AVW-TELAV Disaster Relief Fund. All donations will go directly to its displaced employees. The firm is matching employee donations up to an additional $250,000.

GES established the GES Employee Recovery Fund and contributed $150,000 to provide long-term assistance, including financial and housing assistance, to the more than 70 displaced GES and E/G New Orleans employees.

GES and E/G parent Viad will match fund donations up to $100,000. Additionally, GES will match donations made by its employees to the American Red Cross in support of Hurricane Katrina victims.

At least one other major contractor was heavily impacted by the hurricane. MC²'s 12,000 sq. ft. New Orleans facility appears to have suffered even worse damage than those of Freeman and GES.

"It's underwater," said Rob Murphy, senior vice president of the Chestnut Ridge, N. Y.-based exhibitor services firm.

Although the New Orleans facility is among the smallest of the firm's eight locations, Murphy said exhibits from nearly a dozen shows were locked up there, including some exhibits from The NACS Show.

"Properties there won't be leaving," he noted.

MC² personnel were also affected by the storm. Frank Gallodoro, the firm's New Orleans division director, lost his home, according to Murphy. "He's lost everything that he owns, as (have) a number of our employees."