As flood clean-up is starting all over Bangkok, it’s already begun in some of Thailand’s industrial parks too. While most are still under several feet of water, some factories are able to start cleaning up, even if it’s only on the upper floors while they wait for the lower floors to drain.
An interesting story on CNBC this week talked about the clean up at Hana Microelectronics, one of the world’s biggest integrated circuit producers. They’re still under water and without electricity at their plant outside Bangkok. Not close to getting everything cleaned up, they have however been close to making the aquaintance of the two crocodiles seen in their parking lot, as well as the cobra that slid into the factory itself. But their employees are struggling on, cleaning up what they can, and waiting for the rest of the flood water to drain.
The Thai government has said most industrial parks outside Bangkok and north in places like Ayutthaya should be flood-free within three weeks, but several natural disaster experts have said it’s more likely to be the beginning of January before most of the water drains.
Even then, clean-up will take weeks, as it’s not just a case of scrubbing down floors and walls. Most of these factories have enormous machinery that was bolted to the floor, meaning they couldn’t remove it before flood waters hit. All of it will have to be dismantled, cleaned, some parts replaced, and then put back together before any major production in the factories can begin.
You can only imagine how long that’s going to take.
