Cebu Pacific lowers airfares to Bangkok, China

MANILA, Philippines - Cebu Pacific, the leading budget carrier in the country, is slashing prices of its flights to Bangkok by as much as 57%.

Cebu Pacific is holding a seat sale from November 29 to December 1, for flights from December 15 to March 31, 2012. Clark to Bangkok fares are P888, while Manila to Bangkok fares are P1,488.

"We encourage passengers to make this Christmas even more festive with holiday shopping in Bangkok. They will not only get to get the best value for money with the gifts they buy, but the lowest possible Bangkok airfare with this seat sale,” said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog, in a statement.

From late October to early November, Bangkok experienced heavy flooding, but the Tourism Authority of Thailand assured that businesses and hotels in downtown Bangkok are now back to normal operations.

At the same time, Cebu Pacific is holding a seat sale for selected domestic and China routes, for travel from January 1 to March 31, 2012.

This includes P88 seats from Manila to Roxas, from Davao to Cagayan de Oro, and from Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi. 

There are P288 seats from Manila to Cauayan or Tuguegarao, from Cebu to Clark or Zamboanga, from Davao to Zamboanga, and from Cagayan de Oro to Iloilo.

Flights from Manila to Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Coron (Busuanga), Davao or General Santos are also priced at P888.

Flights from Clark to Hong Kong are only P488, while flights from Manila to Hong Kong or Macau, and from Cebu to Hong Kong are P888.

Manila to Guangzhou or Taipei flights are P1,488 seats, while P2,488 seats are available from Manila to Beijing or Shanghai.

Bangkok Residents Clean Up after Flood

A Thai volunteer, left, pours detergent as others sweep a road during a cleaning drive after flood waters receded in Bangkok, Thailand, November 20, 2011.

Residents of Bangkok, Thailand were hard at work cleaning up their city Sunday, during a "Big Cleaning Day" campaign launched by the city.

Sunday saw blue skies, dry weather and hundreds of people with brooms sweeping mud and debris from homes, while teams of volunteers removed rotting piles of garbage from the streets, as flood waters finally began receding from the center of the capital.

Thai government officials say flood waters have been receding steadily and that most streets in Bangkok, should be dry in two weeks.

Thai Flood Victims Face Challenges Returning Home

A man smokes a cigarette outside his flooded home in a slum just outside Bangkok, Thailand, November 21, 2011.

Thailand’s historic floods are now slowly receding. But in Bangkok, scores of evacuees are reluctant to go home. As the government discusses how to compensate flood victims for their losses, residents who are facing the task of rebuilding their lives speak out.

At the height of the floods, the Chaeng Wattana evacuation center in Thailand’s capital housed over 3,800 people. Many are now going home.

In drier times, Det is a volunteer coordinator for Bangkok youth groups. In recent weeks, though, he has been working here, helping evacuees.

Some people have gone home only to find that there’s still water in their area. The water is stinky, and they have no money or equipment, and so they came back here and asked if they could stay a while longer,” said Det.

After a month of sleeping on a tile floor, 49 year-old Sunan Jitsawang has made the decision to return home. The 15-kilometer journey takes two hours in a specially outfitted bus capable of driving through the deep water.

Just outside her house, drainage pumps are working around the clock. Although water has receded by one meter in her Bangkok suburb Rangsit, it still has a long way to go. 

Her 10-person household includes her elderly mother, who has been suffering from severe asthma and back problems.

“I don't know about the future because I have not had time to think about it that much. My main concern is about money. Very few members of my family are working and I don’t know where I’m going to get all the money to repair the house,” said Sunan.

Thailand's costliest floods so far have totaled at least $320 million. Many neighborhoods have been flooded for weeks, the stagnant water mixing with sewage and trash. Insurers are still tallying the damage.

"Basically, as far as we can guess of the almost 20 million houses around Bangkok and in central Thailand which were affected by this flood, only about less than one percent are insured for flood, and mostly have no coverage for flood," said Jeerapan Assavathanakul, with the General Insurance Association.

Sunan said she would have just stayed in her flooded home had her mother not been ill, and she's eager to get her life back together.

“We will not claim much for insurance - just help to replace things that were lost like beds and cabinets. Right now we are sleeping on the floor, and there are snakes and centipedes,” she said.

Now that Thailand's flood victims are returning home, many may find that the ordeal of moving on has only just begun.

Thailand Flood Impact Lingers

Just over five months since the historic flooding began in Thailand, the water levels to the north and in parts of Bangkok have begun to recede. Meanwhile, the massive runoff continues to place southeastern regions on high alert.

Even with a history of flooding, elaborate sluice gates, and complex irrigation systems, no one seems to have been truly prepared to handle the rain and runoff, which quickly covered an area the size of Kuwait. 

As human and financial tolls continue to mount, global supply chains are revisiting disaster management strategies and the costs of agglomeration.

Low consumer confidence in mature economies means soft enterprise purchasing, yet emerging economies continue to expand. 

The global electronics supply chain has been in a push-pull situation and has responded with leaner inventory, localized and low-cost manufacturing strategies, conservative utilization levels, and a scaling back by many in capital expenditures to build, improve, or expand production capabilities.

When the flood warnings in Thailand were issued, there was a small window during which some finished products and some equipment could have been moved to higher ground. 

However, the majority of the equipment in these industrial high-tech parks is immovable. Little time was available to seal buildings to withstand well over 10 feet of rushing and now standing water, where fish and crocodiles swim over loading docks.

Lean inventory management, the agglomeration from localized manufacturing, and a historic natural disaster have created a major global supply chain disruption for the semiconductor and electronics industry. 

Not only were major manufacturers caught in the floodwaters, but the smaller but still critical component suppliers were also shut down. 

Furthermore, there has been a huge toll on employees, many of whom face not only emotional hardship, but also the loss of logistical infrastructure in areas north of Bangkok.

Assessments are still pending for almost all semiconductor and electronics companies that operate in Thailand. The end of November may bring better visibility into the duration of production halts and the enormous efforts required to rebuild, power, and restart electronics manufacturing in the affected regions.

Meanwhile, we do know that the effects are global, deep, and costly. Hard disk drives (HDD), both external and internal, are already in shortage situations that will likely worsen during the first quarter and hopefully ease during the second half of next year. 

As a result, production costs and purchase prices are rising for HDDs and PCs, in particular. But the price hikes have extended to other sectors, such as automotive, optics (including digital cameras and fiber optics), LEDs, packaging, and test and assembly equipment for the semiconductor and electronics industry.

On the financial side, reduced margins and lost sales due to lost production volume will take a bigger bite out of revenues for many companies beginning this quarter and likely lasting through the second quarter of 2012 at least. 

For some small and midsized companies in an already extremely challenged economic arena, this "perfect electronics storm" caused by lack of product and limited production may prove insurmountable.

On the positive side, we'll likely see serious re-examination of current business practices to make global supply chains more dynamic, more diversified, and stronger.

Bangkok: Visiting The Flooded City

Thai volunteers take part in a clean-up along a major road in Bangkok 

In the weeks leading up to my Southeast Asia trip, I became a flood junkie, reading anything I could get my hands onto regarding the situation in and around the Thai capital. 

Some reports compared Bangkok to post-Katrina New Orleans, others stated that once monsoon season ended, the city would take exactly 10 days to completely drain. 

Insiders and locals I spoke to said that the most important part I could play as a traveler was to go on my trip and support the local economy.

I didn't change my plans and returned to Bangkok, a city of fascinating juxtapositions and one of Asia's most vibrant capitals. 

And I can report that its current state is a composite of everything I had read: The flooding is everywhere and nowhere.

The biggest difference I noticed on my first morning, waking up in a river-view room at the Mandarin Oriental: The Chao Phraya River was silent. 

Instead of the incessant, traffic jams of small-to-supersized boats making their way up and down and across this Thai lifeline, there were just a couple of hotel shuttles drifting quickly, and often sideways, down the gushing water. 

Other than the changed river-picture, however, everyday life continues in central Bangkok as always: buzzing, relentless. Many of the sights and temples, like the Grand Palace, Wat Po and Wat Arun are lined by sandbags, but all is dry and open for business.

Locals, including the staff of many of the luxury hotels lining the river, who cannot afford rents in central Bangkok, have, of course been hard-hit. 

Especially suburbs to the north remain badly flooded and the government is being accused of leaving these poorer neighborhoods intentionally underwater and instead focusing their efforts on keeping central Bangkok dry. 

On my first day the International Herald Tribune reported a blast set off by residents in the northern Pathum Thani district, reportedly meant to both sound protest and shift sandbags so that water would begin draining.

"Instead of saying Hello, we now say, 'How's your house?'" explained my wonderful tour guide on our walking tour my first day. 

He spoke to many of the vendors, who come from all over Thailand to sell their goods in the capital. The floods destroyed the orchid plantations of the center, but left the roses and marigold fields intact. 

The vegetable plantations of the north were also fine, while some of the rice fields, in the central west were badly damaged. 

Amazingly many locals he spoke with seemed to take everything with incredible poise, even humor. One merchant told of a housing advertisement he had seen, which stated: "Even higher-floor apartments can be conveniently reached -- by boat."

I asked my guide, who is one of the most entertaining and informed specialists I have ever toured with, whether a lot of his clients had canceled their trips in recent weeks. 

He said no, many just cut the Bangkok portion of their trips shorter. (The only noticeable change to a Bangkok itinerary is the fact that the klongs, the smaller canals, are closed off and river tours via boat are not possible.) 

Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle are not effected; nor are the islands, like Koh Samui and Phuket.

"It's wonderful to see that tourists remain supportive and continue coming here," he said. "It's so important for the local people."

And the local people remain some of the kindest, most hospitable hosts one can imagine. Whether it's the vendors at one of the sprawling food markets trying to explain their wares in broken English and a lot of pantomime, 

or the thoughtful staff at the Oriental, at every turn someone is making you feel welcome and interested in learning more about the culture. 

Hopefully the flooding situation will continue to greatly improve over the coming weeks and travelers will return in healthy numbers. I, for one, am glad to be here and catch--and support--the city at the end of this challenging, momentous time.

Some great finds on this trip: the Indian Market, a maze of color, fabrics and spices in the middle of Bangkok; the solid Golden Buddha at Wat Trimitr, a fascinating story of discovery 

(it was hidden beneath stucco for decades); and Taling Pling, a low-key Thai restaurant where the locals outnumber the visitors. 

I also returned to some of my old-time favorites, like Indian restaurant Hazara, the incredible Distill Bar a top of the State Tower and the pool oasis at the Mandarin Oriental, still the best place to recharge from Bangkok's colorful, unique vivacity.

Singaporean suspect in Bangkok stabbing 'may surrender soon'

Bangkok police received an anonymous phone call on Sunday, informing them that the Singaporean thought to have killed his wife's lover would surrender in a few days.

Bangkok Metropolitan Police Bureau spokesman, Major-General Piya Uthayo, told The Straits Times last night that the police in the Bangkok suburb of Sutthisan received the call from a man who asked what would happen if the Singaporean were to turn himself in.

Maj-Gen Piya said the police could not be sure if the caller was the suspect, whom he named as Hsu Wei Hua.

'We told him that the Singaporean can go to any police station. Then the man said that maybe the Singaporean would surrender in a few days,' he added.

Better safe than sorry The flood crisis has highlighted the desirability of diversifying operations across multiple locations.

The unexpectedly huge scale of the ongoing flood crisis has driven home the need for companies to diversify their operations base after many saw their entire production process shut down.

Total damage has yet to be figured, but already the potential price tag is sending shivers down the spine of companies that had their entire operation in a single location or even based in one country.

"Yes, we've learned a lesson from this natural disaster. We thought we were safe having diversified our production facilities to three different locations," said Richard Han, the chief executive of Hana Microelectronics Plc.

Hana had one facility completely inundated and lost nearly 35% of its production capacity despite efforts to salvage its equipment and set it up at headquarters.

"When a person drives a car, they have one spare tyre. And if one tyre goes flat, you have a spare to fix it with for a while, while the probability of two tyres going flat is very low," said Mr Han when asked if he was ready for future mishaps.

Hana has three facilities _ two in Thailand and one in China _ and is contemplating changes to its production process whereby it would produce each of its products at all three locations so as to avoid disruption to its customers.

Lohia: Diversified production portfolio means customers can count on continued supply.

Mr Han said customers are the key to business. Large companies have insurance to cover damage including revenue loss, but customers are unlikely to wait for products to arrive and may shift to new suppliers instead.

"This is something we are aware of, and that is why our wool inventory is in Europe, where we sell most of our wool products," said Aloke Lohia, the chief executive of Indorama Ventures Plc (IVL).

IVL's smallest business line is wool, accounting for less than 1% of revenue. But Mr Lohia says his company attaches importance to customers, as it is not easy to get them back once they leave.

Wool may account for only a very small part of the business, but IVL will buy the raw material in the spot market, look for spinning mills and deliver the goods to the customers as per their requirements until the company's Lop Buri factory can get back on its feet in another 3-6 months.

IVL, the world's largest producer of PET polymers and one of the largest for PTA polymers, operates its PET, packaging and wool businesses from the Lop Buri plant.

"The PET business is not going to be affected, as we have shifted production to Rayong and will service our customers from there," said Mr Lohia.

He said IVL had a similar experience in the US when Hurricane Katrina forced its plant there to shut down for a short while, and once again having multiple plants in that country helped it to maintain its customer base.

"In Asia too we have a diversified portfolio, with production facilities in Thailand [Rayong and Lop Buri], China and Indonesia," he said, adding that this enables the company to maintain its customer base without any problem.

Other companies are in a similar situation. They have diversified their operations to minimise risk as well as capture business opportunities in other markets.

Polyplex (Thailand), a leading producer of film packing, said diversification is key to keeping its operations going and maintaining its customer base.

With plants in Thailand and in Turkey, it is very serious about diversifying production, which is why it has continuously expanded its manufacturing base in both countries over the years.

Although Polyplex is not in a flood zone in Thailand, it has felt a low single-digit (1-2%) impact, as its customers either directly or indirectly have been affected.

Only 15-18% of the company's production is sold in Thailand.

Other companies such as Thai Union Frozen Products Plc have also said that diversification means they would likely feel a very mild effect even in the worst-case scenario.

But not all companies in Thailand have been able to diversify, and many have been completely inundated, especially small and medium-sized enterprises with a single operating base.