February 15, 2012

Fire incident damages TUF shrimp processing plant

A fire break-out in one of Thai Union Frozen Products PCL's (TUF) Samut Sakhon plants had caused minor damages, according to the company.

The plant's in-house emergency systems helped put the fire under control. The actual cause of the fire and damage costs remain unknown, but both the plant and facilities are fully insured against any loss and damages caused by a fire.

"There are no heavy damages to the plant assets and no casualties", said Thiraphong Chansiri, president of TUF. "All kinds of assistance have been put in place and are ready to be provided to affected employees due to the incident."

"All 2,100 employees of our affected shrimp plant will be relocated to work at… other production plants as well as in our other subsidiaries within Thai Union Group in Thailand", he added.

Production lines have not suffered any damages.

The company denied claims of a leakage of ammonia gas.

The Samut Sakhon shrimp plant is one of the group's two main locally-based shrimp processing facilities for export markets; they generated sales worth US$233 million in 2011, accounting for 7% of the total consolidated sales of Thai Union Group. This plant has a capacity of up to 120 tonnes of whole shrimp. 

As the first quarter of each year tends to be a low-season period for the shrimp processing business, the plant's capacity is currently estimated at only 60%.

TUF plans to relocate some workers at Samut Sakhon plant to processing facilities in Songkhla province. This move will help the company fulfill outstanding orders and future demand, the firm said.