Shelves are now beginning to be fully stocked again of household emergency supplies at stores around the Island.

However, while some stores have already been replenished of their goods following the panic buying caused by Hurricane Fabian, some may this week face delays as the general strike of the Bermuda Industrial Union has brought the docks to a standstill.

Gorham's hardware store in Pembroke said it was able to replenish its stocks yesterday after the arrival of the Oleander cargo ship on Monday afternoon.

And MarketPlace said it had been able to re-stock, with customers being able to purchase just about all emergency items during the past week.

But Masters hardware store may face delays in re-stocking its shelves after waiting for the Somers Isles cargo ship to come in yesterday with five containers of supplies.

Although the ship arrived on time, the general strike of the BIU yesterday afternoon and today means there are no dock workers to unload the latest batch of emergency supplies and make them available to customers.

SAL Building Supplies, which ordered five containers of slate, is also likely to face delays in getting the containers off, as is Bermuda General Agency (BGA), which ordered containers of water.

President and CEO of BGA John Tomlinson said it decided to fly in six pallets of C and D batteries yesterday, amounting to about 23,000 items, in order to get them to the Island as soon as possible.

However, he said its containers of water were still sitting on the docks last night.

He said: "We have had water brought in, but it's at the docks. We have a few containers down there, but we can't get them off the docks because of the strike.

"But, in general, I think people still have water. We have got some of the smaller bottles left, it's the bigger ones we are waiting for."

Susan Wilson, president of Masters, yesterday said the store had brought in five containers on board the Somers Isle, and she was waiting to have them unloaded and made available.

"We have the emergency containers ordered, but we are now at the mercy of forces outside of our control, such as getting them unloaded," she said.

"But once we get the containers unloaded, the staff at the store are prepared to work overnight to get everything out on the shelves.

"We have chainsaws, buckets, rope, coolers, generators, batteries, tarpaulin and everything else on order. As soon as we get our hands on these five containers, we will be fully stocked again and ready for the next storm.

"We sold out of everything, but we expected to sell out of everything. Now we just want to get the containers.

"The staff are all geared up and more than willing. Hopefully, everything will be on the shelves by the weekend."

And Mrs. Wilson said the store had also brought in a lot of plywood, which it was planning to give away free to people in need, or the Emergency Measures Organisation. But again, that is not likely to be unloaded for the next few days.

Assistant general manager at Gorham's Henry Durham was among the lucky ones yesterday as his supplies arrived on the Oleander, ahead of the strike.

He said: "We are pretty much back up to normal. We just received a container on Monday with a few generators, tarpaulins, butane and propane, and drinking water.

"We have now replenished the stock in the store. Just before the storm hit, we could see it was going to be bad, so we ordered lots of things like that.

"So last Monday, after the storm, we had two containers delivered. However, they sold out by late Tuesday, so we have been waiting for more supplies to come in. Thankfully, they arrived on Monday this week.

"We have been through quite a few tarpaulins and batteries, but we are back to normal now."

Mr. Durham said although the stocks were replenished, he did not believe demand was still there for all of the items.

"I think people either have power or the supplies, now, so demand is not so high, but we have plenty of everything," he added.

Joe Simas, manager of Meyer Shipping, said the strike by BIU workers would have a knock-on effect at the docks and could cause a backlog of work.

"The strike will affect the cargo and cruise ships. We have (cruise ship) passengers complaining because they have bought bus passes and things and they now want to return them and get their money back.

"And the Somers Isles will not be able to get its containers distributed to the stores. There were a lot of containers of slate, but because of the strike, they can't unload them.

"Five containers of slate were for SAL alone."