Page 21 - Sphere No.29 (Jun 2011)

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Sphere
It managed to maintain almost normal service levels,
even when 30 to 40 per cent of all international com-
munications between Asia and the US were disrupted.
“This is because we use multiple submarine and
terrestrial cable systems, which give us the ability
to auto-switch affected traffic to non-affected
submarine paths,” said Andrew Kwok, HGC’s Senior
Vice-President of International Business. “Services for
our corporate customers were 100 per cent back to
normal within four hours.”
Mr Kwok added that many other telecommunica-
tions companies relied on HGC’s advanced and exten-
sive global network to restore their own services after
the Japan earthquake. “It’s all part of being a global
citizen,” he said. “We responded to requests from lead-
ing carriers in Japan, the US, Singapore, Vietnam and
the Philippines. We were particularly glad to be able to
help our counterparts in Japan.”
Close to disasters
Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) found itself operating
close to some of the biggest natural disasters of 2010,
including the worst floods in Pakistan’s history, and the
flooding of vast areas of Australia’s Queensland and its
state capital, Brisbane.
But the event which most directly affected HPH
in a year of extreme weather was a rare tornado that
slammed into its Freeport Container Port (FCP) on
Grand Bahama Island, about 90 km off the Florida
coast of the US, on 29 March 2010.
“As we all know, tornadoes have no predictable
pattern,” said HPH Executive Director Eric Ip. “The
safety of our staff and terminal are our priorities. We
suspended all terminal operations immediately after
the tornado and commenced crisis management
action, which includes rescue and recovery plans, and
internal and external communications activities with
all terminal stakeholders.”
The port’s emergency response and rescue teams
raced to the scene as soon as the tornado passed.
They were assisted by local emergency services which
brought heavy equipment to cut through wreck-
age. Terminal operations resumed two days after the
incident. The port’s Technical Services Department was
called in to facilitate the recovery and co-ordinate with
equipment manufacturers to ensure quick repair and
replacement orders.
Despite the fact tornadoes are few and far between
in the Bahamas, the FCP emergency response manual
includes plans for dealing with them. Safety drills
are regularly carried out, in some instances with the
involvement of local emergency services. The port has
also installed its own weather monitoring stations and
receives additional updates from the Bahamas Meteo-
rology Department every six hours.
Tackling tempests
Hutchison businesses in both hemispheres are exposed
to tropical cyclones.
When Hurricane Igor, the most intense of the 2010
Atlantic hurricane season, approached the east coast of
Canada last September well-honed contingency plans
went into high gear at Hutchison’s Husky Energy.
Two semi-submersible rigs were down-manned
and production was halted at a third facility at the peak
of the storm. As a result, there were no injuries, no
significant damage to Husky facilities and just a few
hours of reduced production.
The homes of employees and contractors on shore
fared less well. Husky closed its St John’s office on
the afternoon of the storm’s arrival so that colleagues
could attend to battered houses and downed trees.
With one of Newfoundland’s main highways washed
out, Husky also sent a helicopter to the region to airlift
employees to its offshore production facility, SeaRose.
Closer to home, in southern China, a multi-year
cycle of relatively quieter typhoon seasons is coming
to an end. “According to the Hong Kong Observatory,
this year the region will see more typhoons and more
severe typhoons,” said Ivor Chow, Managing Director
of Hongkong International Terminals (HIT). “Accord-
ingly, we’re strengthening our current procedures for
dealing with adverse weather conditions. In addition,
every year we discuss emergency contingency plans
with operators and local emergency services prior to
the typhoon season to ensure smooth operations in