Arugas N.V.

7 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 8 still does today. “One of our subsidiaries oversees all gas imports to the island and sources supplies primarily from the Gulf,” says Harsveld. The Arugas facility primarily manages gas refills of smaller residential tanks. It has five tank trucks (bobtails) servicing the larger tanks of between 500 and 5,000 gallons installed at various customer sites around the island. “Previously, we filled tanks manually at the facility and had around eight people doing the work,” explains Harsveld. “Now, we’ve installed a conveyor system requiring only one person to refill the same number of tanks.” All Arugas imports are supplied by one of the largest LPG suppliers in the Caribbean, Carib LPG, which has supplied Aruba since the refinery closed around 20 years ago. The transition from local supplies to imports also necessitated the construction of a terminal, which was the only way Arugas could continue supplying the island nation. Harsveld acknowledges, “I must commend Carib LPG who brings supplies from “Employees in the installation department require a technical background because of the nature of the work,” he says. “We must still train them because there is no LPG or gas course in college. So, most new employees learn on the job from more experienced employees who have worked with us for some time and know the job.” As one of the most dependable employers in Aruba, many Arugas employees stay with the company their entire career, some with as much as 40 years tenure at the company. “We have a sizeable group that’s been here for 30-plus years,” says Harsveld. “Myself, I have been here for 32 years.” Arugas operates out of its main facility in Barcadera, Aruba, several miles from the Barcadera Port. It is one of the largest LPG facilities in the Caribbean, with an installed capacity of around one million gallons. Although at inception, Arugas sourced all its stocks from the local refinery, with that refinery’s closure, the company started importing supplies – which it