Deadly China blast disrupts world's 10th largest port
SHANGHAI
(AP) — Explosions that sent huge fireballs through China's Tianjin port
have disrupted the flow of cars, oil, iron ore and other items through
the world's 10th largest port.
Deadly China blast disrupts world's 10th largest port
By ERIKA KINETZ
4 hours ago
Photographers walk near the charred remains of a warehouse and new cars after an explosion at a warehouse …
SHANGHAI (AP) —
Explosions that sent huge fireballs through China's Tianjin port have
disrupted the flow of cars, oil, iron ore and other items through the
world's 10th largest port.
Ships carrying oil and "hazardous products" were barred from the port Thursday, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration said on its official microblog. It also said vessels were not allowed to enter the central port zone, which is near the blast site.
Tianjin is the 10th largest port in the world by container volume and the seventh largest in China, according to the World Shipping Council, moving more containers than the ports of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Los Angeles. It handles vast quantities of metal ore, coal, steel, cars and crude oil.
Australian mining giant BHP Billiton said the blast had disrupted iron ore shipments and port operations, but had not damaged any iron ore at the port. "We are working with our customers to minimize any potential impact," it said in a statement Thursday.
Volkswagen spokeswoman Larissa Braun said vehicles at a storage facility near the blast were damaged. "We will ship cars from our storage facilities at other ports to ensure our dealers have adequate supply," she said. Volkswagen's component plant, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, suffered no damage, though some employees had minor injuries, she added.
Toyota said it also lost some cars awaiting shipment, though it was still investigating the extent of the damage. Windows broke at some buildings and dealerships, and a few employees in the area were injured, it said. "We are still assessing the potential impact on our operations, including logistics and supply chain management," spokesman Nicholas Maxfield said.
Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk said operations at its Tianjin port terminals, which are 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the blast site, resumed Thursday. A few warehouses owned and operated by suppliers to its logistics company, Damco, were damaged, two of them seriously. It said late Thursday that access restrictions and ongoing salvage operations have prevented it from fully assessing damage to cargo and Maersk Line containers.
Port operator Tianjin Port Development Holdings halted trading of its shares in Hong Kong Thursday. The company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its port operations were normal and it did not anticipate "any material loss." It applied for trading to resume Friday. The stock is also listed in Shanghai, where it lost 2.1 percent in an otherwise rising market.
Tianjin
is northern China's largest port, a gateway to Beijing that has grown
in importance as companies seeking lower manufacturing costs migrated
from China's eastern and southeastern manufacturing centers. Motorola,
Toyota, Samsung, Nestle, Honeywell, Coca-Cola, Bridgestone, Lafarge,
GlaxoSmithKline and Novo Nordisk, among others, have operations in
Tianjin, according to a government trade promotion website.
The
overall economic impact of the blast will hinge, in part, on how long
the cleanup takes. The government has so far said little about the cause
of the blast. Tianjin authorities suspended firefighting Thursday so
chemical experts could survey for hazardous materials and the local
Environmental Protection Bureau said it had identified toluene and
chloroform in the air. Ruihai Logistics, which owns the warehouse that
exploded, said on its website — which became inaccessible later Thursday
— that it stored toxic chemicals including sodium cyanide and toluene
diisocyanate, as well as compressed natural gas, flammable liquids and
flammable solids.
Sean Liu,
general manager of ICIS China, a commodities research firm, said
preliminary interviews with companies at the port suggested that the
near-term economic impact for most industries would likely be muted. But
he said the blast could have long-term implications for the cost
structure of China's energy and petrochemicals industry, if the
government imposes stricter supply chain safety standards.
"In my view, there must be a lot more safety and security control in place in the near future," Liu said.
China
has seen a string of industrial accidents in recent years. In April, a
paraxylene plant in southeastern Fujian province exploded, causing
injuries and tremors up to 50 kilometers (30 miles) away. In July, a
petrochemical factory in eastern Shandong province exploded, sending a
huge fireball into the sky. In 2013, pipelines belonging to China's
Sinopec Group exploded in the port city of Qingdao, killing 62. A 2010
pipeline explosion at the northeastern port of Dalian sent up 30-meter
(100-foot) flames and spilled at least 1,500 tons of oil into the sea.
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Associated Press writer Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo and news researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.
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