SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS

Floods Cannot Dampen BDP’s Service in Thailand

The recent floods in Thailand caused chaos and heartache. Now, months later, the country is striving to get back to normal. Thailand’s factories are struggling to recover from historic flooding, but supply chains won’t recede anytime soon.

For example, many companies are still feeling the pinch of flooding because of supply chain disruptions. A recent survey of Japanese companies indicated high percentage of their production bases in Thailand are still producing less than they did before the heavy flooding broke out.

Fortunately for BDP’s Bangkok office, its location protected it from the direct impact of the flooding. However, approximately 30 percent of Bangkok staff members were affected, due to flooded housing estates where they live or the surrounding roads. Some had to move from their houses by military trucks, and even garbage trucks. Others moved to friends or family members in areas without floods to avoid transport problems

“The water came not as flash floods but immense water quantities via rivers from the north over a period of many weeks. This allowed many people in and around Bangkok to prepare their assets or protect their houses by moving all belongings to higher ground or out of town,” said Stefan Krebs, Managing Director, BDP Thailand.

We asked how BDP Thailand maintained operations to help customers whose businesses were affected by the devastating floods.
“Our office is in a dry and safe area of town, so we were able to work 100 percent at all times. However, it was very time consuming to coordinate with customers due to road closure in various areas. Some deliveries needed deviation of tens of kilometers to get close to their destinations,” Krebs said.

Some customers accepted cargo at temporary dry areas and also moved cargo by smaller boats to the factories that were dry and still operational. “We were lucky that many of our customers with factories on the eastern seaboard were not affected. The main port for Thailand in Laem Chabang was not directly affected,” Krebs pointed out.

The Thai office of one of BDP’s clients thanked Krebs and his staff for their uninterrupted support. In a letter to BDP, a supply chain staff member in Map Ta Phut, said, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for great support from your company during the flooding crisis…I would also like to recognize the excellent support from your employees and management. They have demonstrated their good teamwork with our company and also the other services providers with the same goal to support our end customers and enable them to continue their business. Your contribution to our company proves our mutual commitment to deliver comprehensive logistics service to our customers.”

To Richard Strollo, BDP’s Managing Director, South Asia Region, the stoicism is to be expected. “It speaks to the resilience of the people. Thailand is the land of smiles. No matter what happens the Thai people overcome adversity,” he said. The positive comments from Dow and other clients, expressing their thanks to BDP at a time when so many things are happening, were appreciated. The focus also has to be on business because they have to survive and keep moving on. BDP is making that happen for them.”

Richard said it was business as usual, “to the extent we could make it for them. The strength of the BDP people to just muscle on…it says a lot. At the end of the day, no matter what, we are here to service the customer.”

Pointing to BDP’s culture, Strollo said, “It is truly a family-oriented business. If someone has an issue or a challenge, business or personal, we try to work it out. That also extends to relationships with the customers. There is a real level of customer intimacy that a lot of other players in the industry speak of but it doesn’t actually exist. BDP has a soul…you can feel that cohesiveness, that belonging. It is a sense of we’re in this together. Just the same as in Thailand.”