Petrochemical company LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化學) yesterday said it would shut down its factory in Greater Kaohsiung’s Dashe District (大社區) for four days starting today so employees can attend tomorrow’s public memorial for victims of last week’s gas leak explosions. The move is expected to reduce the firm’s revenue by NT$139 million (US$4.64 million), it added.
After the ceremony, the company needs two days for preparations to restart the factory, it said.
“We shut down the factory because we hope all our employees and officials there can attend the ceremony,” an LCY Chemical official who declined to be named told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday.
The explosions in Greater Kaohsiung on last Thursday night and Friday morning came after LCY Chemical and China General Terminal and Distribution Corp (華運倉儲), which provides warehousing and transportation of petrochemical raw materials, encountered problems when transferring propene to LCY Chemical’s Dashe site. The city government blamed LCY Chemical for the incident, saying it did not swiftly inform local authorities about the problems.
The offices of LCY Chemical and China General Terminal and Distribution were searched for data related to the explosions by the police and prosecutors yesterday, they said.
The official said LCY Chemical has fire insurance of NT$37 billion for “its factories and other works,” along with accident insurance amounting to hundreds of millions new Taiwan dollars, but the company must talk with its insurers to ascertain whether they will cover losses from the blasts and possible compensations to victims and the city if LCY Chemical is found to be responsible for the incident.
The official said the company has a net worth between NT$20 billion and NT$22 billion, an amount expected to keep it solvent even if it has to pay compensations.
Company shares extended their decline for a third day yesterday, falling by the daily maximum limit to close at NT$20.15 in Taipei trading, underperforming the TAIEX, which was down 2.02 percent.
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