Force majeure after Ruhr floods mainly concerns transportation

In the wake of the flooding caused by heavy rains in Germany, several companies have decided to declare force majeure, among them thyssenkrupp Steel.

The status was declared because supply chains are disrupted to an extent that scheduled delivery cannot be guaranteed until further notice. Notably, the actual production facilities were harmed only to a minor extent, Kallanish learns from thyssenkrupp.

“The flood disaster in Germany has so far had only a very minor direct impact on thyssenkrupp’s sites. In isolated cases there was minor damage due to water ingress, such as failures of IT infrastructure or air conditioning units,” the company states.

However, disruptions on rail lines have cut off supplies of starting material to individual locations; shipments to customers are also affected.

The declaration has also been heard from cold-roller companies located in the region of Hagen, where main train lines were still inaccessible by Monday evening. The works of Risse + Wilke Kaltband, for example, on Wednesday was evacuated by the fire department, and production brought down. The facilities were largely unharmed.

Still, the company expresses worry about its supply chains, especially on the input side.

“Some suppliers and transport companies themselves have been suffering damage, so that we cannot predict how bad the repercussions will be on our deliveries,” it writes.

Christian Koehl Germany