Ports in Puerto Rico now open for business after Hurricane Maria's devastation

Puerto Rico is literally translated as "rich port," but after Hurricane Maria, the island's ports were anything but lucrative.  However, after being dealt some setbacks, they are now open for business.

Initial bottlenecks at the ports left thousands of people without necessary supplies in the days after Maria, but over four months later, officials say they have fixed those problems and things are running smoothly.

"Initially with the supplies, not only did we have the bottleneck at the ports, but also we had the problem that we didn't have any energy at all," explains Omar J. Marrero, with the Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority.  "We didn't have any communications, and obviously, some of the main roads in Puerto Rico were obstructed, so we weren't able to get the supplies to the people that were in need."
 
It took a month to get power restored to the ports and even longer to get enough truck drivers on the island to transport supplies.
Today it's a different story, as the port in San Juan is  now functioning at levels seen prior to the hurricane.
 
Marrero says the ports must now have an island-wide emergency plan, in case this happens again. 
               
"We are ready, not only the Port of San Juan, but also the Port of Ponce, the Port of Roosevelt Roads, the Port of Mayaguez and also all the Port of Puerto Rico, to make sure that we can use for our benefit the different facilities we have."
 
Teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are on the ground now, trying to keep up with the immediate need, while planning for a recovery that could take a decade.
 
"We have over 46 million liters of water, over 5 million meals on hand, in case there's an emergency, but that's separately from the meals and water that we have to continue to provide for those communities that don't have water or electricity," says Daniel llargues, FEMA spokesperson.