TRANSJAMAICAN Highway Limited is absorbing millions in lost toll revenue, its CEO said Thursday, after the Government ordered a suspension of collections due to Hurricane Melissa, leaving the company in a financial stalemate with no compensation agreement in place as the directive enters its fifth day.

As Hurricane Melissa approached the island late last week, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz ordered the country’s two toll operators to suspend collections until he gives “further directions.” CEO of TransJamaican Highway Ivan Anderson told the Jamaica Observer Thursday that the company has received no guidance on when it can resume tolling and has no agreement with the Government to recover millions in lost revenue.

“We have not been advised as to when we should” resume collecting tolls, Anderson said, noting that he had reached out to the Toll Authority but had received no response as yet. With TransJamaican Highway processing between 70,000 and 80,000 vehicles daily under normal conditions, the suspension is costing an estimated US$246,000 per day in forgone revenue, pushing total losses past an estimated US$1 million since Sunday. Anderson clarified that this figure is based on pre-hurricane traffic levels and that actual volumes have been lower due to the storm’s impact, though he said the toll plaza in Portmore swelled with traffic during Thursday morning’s peak hours.

Yet, faced with this mounting bill, the CEO stated the company is covering the cost for now. “We are absorbing the lost toll as of now,” he said. However, he emphasised the situation is untenable. When asked how long the company could absorb the losses, Anderson replied, “I can’t say anything more than we are absorbing it up to now… We have never had any shutdowns which had lasted long, but obviously at some point we can’t absorb any more. It’s not something that will be indefinite.”

The core of the crisis, Anderson confirmed, is the absence of an activated framework for reimbursement. When asked if a pre-arranged mechanism exists for the company to bill the Government, his response was definitive: “We have no agreement.”

His statement, however, points to a critical procedural gap. The company’s concession agreement with the Government — guaranteed by the State — explicitly requires compensation for revenue losses from a ‘Qualifying Force Majeure Event’, a category that includes hurricanes. The crisis, therefore, is not the absence of a legal framework, but the breakdown in its execution. The company has a contractual right to payment but no active process to receive it, leaving it in a precarious limbo.

Despite the sudden loss of its primary revenue stream, the company must continue to service its significant financial obligations. According to its most recent financial statements, TransJamaican Highway holds US$189.5 million in secured debt, which required US$6.7 million in interest payments in the first half of 2025 alone, and incurred US$11.4 million in operating expenses in the first half of 2025 alone. While the company reported a strong cash position of US$14.1 million in June, the ongoing, open-ended nature of the toll suspension — and the unresolved question of when the Government will honour its contractual guarantee — poses a direct challenge to its financial stability.