Business View Caribbean - October 2015 33
bean and Central America. For example, it resells its
U.S.-imported cement to Guyana, San Andrés, and
the Cayman Islands, and is finalizing a deal with the
Bahamas. Domestically, ARC is one of the four major
distributors of building materials on the island, who,
together, provide approximately 90 percent of Jamai-
ca’s supply. “We sell primarily to projects, to contrac-
tors, and to developers, as well as to, what we refer to
as, ‘mom-and-pop’ hardware stores that are located
throughout the country,” Barnes notes.
What differentiates ARC from the three other major
distribution companies, he believes, is its delivery sys-
tem. ARC offers free, island-wide delivery on full truck
load orders, generally within 24 hours. “We have a
first-class, first-rate delivery system,” he asserts. “You
order today – your goods are there by tomorrow, right
by your doorstep.” In addition, because ARC does its
own lumber remanufacturing, on-site, it offers its cus-
tomers greater flexibility in the type of lumber products
they might need. Barnes adds that the company also
offers specialized financing to qualified customers.
As ARC completes its second decade of operations,
the company’s VP outlines some of its future goals:
“We want to be the number one building materials
distributor in Jamaica. We are strategically expanding
by virtue of acquisition; we’re looking at a few com-
panies that are vertically integrated into the business
that we do. But also what has been successful for us
is the building out of small, light manufacturing plants.
We’re looking to continue that. We will probably have
constructed five or six plants within five years.”
Barnes is also excited about the Government of Ja-
maica’s Global Logistics Hub Initiative, which aims to
make the country the fourth node in the world-wide
system, joining Dubai, Rotterdam, and Singapore.
