HANOI - Typhoon Yagi has severely damaged a large number of factories and flooded warehouses in the export-oriented industrial hub of northern Vietnam, forcing plants to shut, with some expected to take weeks to resume full operations, executives said.
The strongest storm in Asia this year made landfall on Vietnam’s northern coast on Saturday and was still causing deadly floods and landslides on Wednesday, killing dozens and ravaging key infrastructure, including power networks and roads.
The disruptions could affect global supply chains as Vietnam hosts large operations of multinationals that mostly export their products to the North America, Europe and other markets.
In the coastal city of Haiphong, one of the areas worst hit by the typhoon, 95% of businesses were expected to resume some activities on Tuesday, the body managing Haiphong industrial zones said.
“Many businesses had their roofs blown off, some walls were torn and collapsed, gates, fences, signs, camera systems, garages and sliding metal doors were overturned, water flooded into factories,” a report on its website said.
In the Deep C industrial zones, which host factories in Haiphong and the neighbouring province of Quang Ninh, 20 out of 150 plants will be out of service for at least a few weeks, said Bruno Jaspaert, head of Deep C industrial zones.
Based on a review of his clients, he expected power consumption at those facilities would remain one-third below normal for weeks or months because many companies were busy rebuilding their damaged factories.
Among the hardest hit at that industrial park was Jupiter Logistics, which is part of a group co-owned by Japan Airlines, according to one official familiar with the survey of the damage.
Jupiter Logistics was not immediately available to comment.
Goods ready for export or delivery to clients were flooded in warehouses in the area, companies said.
In another industrial park in Haiphong, LG Electronics of South Korea said it had partly resumed work on Tuesday, although the factory’s walls were crushed on Saturday and a warehouse with refrigerators and washing machines had been flooded.
“Many of them are gone with the wind,” said Calvin Nguyen, head of the Vietnamese logistics firm WeDo Forwarding, referring to products that were to be delivered to the United States and the European Union, without specifying which goods.
The company’s three warehouses in Haiphong had their roofs blown off and were still flooded on Wednesday, he said.
The industry ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Power cuts
Power outages were still affecting several areas in the north, as the state-owned power distributor EVN worked to restore dozens of damaged electricity lines.
In Quang Ninh, along the coast north of Haiphong, many factories still had no electricity or water service, Jaspaert said.
The factory of the Chinese solar panel maker Jinko Solar in Quang Ninh was severely damaged, one of its workers said, noting on Tuesday work had not resumed as windows had been smashed and the roof had been blown away.
Jinko was not immediately available for a comment.
Far from the coast, the industrial hubs of Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang which host large factories of multinationals such as Samsung Electronics and the Apple supplier Foxconn were also facing severe flooding.
Samsung’s large facilities in Thai Nguyen had not been visibly affected on Tuesday evening, according to a Reuters witness.
Water was receding on Wednesday in the province, about 60km north of Hanoi, but more rain was expected.