The impact of Katrina and Rita has resulted in devastation to much of the Gulf coast and has directly affected the lives of many people including Alcan Cable employees, customers and their families. At all levels of Alcan, employees are donating their money and time to support the people in the region.

To assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina, our parent company, Alcan Inc. has donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross to assist in relief efforts to the Gulf coast. In addition, the employees of Alcan Cable were able to raise $22,517 for the Red Cross. Alcan Cable donated a further $25,000, taking the total to $47,517.

Until 2003, Alcan operated a cable plant in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a town that was virtually flattened by Katrina. The facility is one of the few buildings to have survived the hurricane and is being used by FEMA and the National Guard, at one time housing up to 700 personnel involved in the relief efforts. Our long term relationship with the region also spurred support from the team in the Alcan Cable head office in Atlanta, which conducted a school supply drive for the community of Bay St. Louis. Employees donated 600 pounds of supplies, which were shipped directly to Bay St. Louis.

"We have responded to the effects of many hurricanes over the years, but Katrina and Rita are unique in terms of the number of lives that have been touched, including some of our own employees," said Ian Hewett, President of Alcan Cable. "Alcan Cable is doing everything it can to help the people of the Gulf coast recover from these natural disasters as quickly as possible."

Alcan Cable, a leading cable supplier to the electrical industry for over 100 years, is also responding to the emergency needs of its key utility and electrical distributor customers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Texas. Through the implementation of an emergency response program, Alcan Cable has shipped over 107 truckloads, or 3,236 miles of cable, to assist in the restoration of power to the devastated areas. This timely delivery of electrical conductor is a result of carefully coordinated efforts of Alcan personnel from customer service, operations planning, manufacturing facilities and logistics working on a 24/7 basis with our utility customers. In addition, cable shipments have been expedited to key electrical distributors who are also assisting utility and public power companies in their efforts to re-connect power to the region.

"In particular, our employees have responded very positively to help out by working through holiday weekends to ensure that our customers get the very best service possible to get power back to the devastated areas," adds Hewett.

Alcan Cable is a division of Alcan Inc., a multinational, market-driven company and a global leader in aluminum and packaging. With world-class operations in primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum as well as flexible and specialty packaging, aerospace applications, bauxite mining and alumina processing, today’s Alcan is well positioned to meet and exceed its customers’ needs for innovative solutions and service. Alcan employs almost 70,000 people and has operating facilities in 55 countries and regions.