Renault-Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd., the Franco-Japanese joint venture between Renault SA and Nissan, was shocked to find that its Chennai based warehouse got almost destroyed by fire on May 9, 2013. The warehouse supplied auto parts and components to the alliance's Oragadam manufacturing unit, situated on the outskirts of Chennai.
As per reports, the warehouse caught fire around 1.30 pm on Thursday that resulted in its structure collapsing to its entirety. The fire was gruesome and escalated in quick time due to various flammable auto components, such as tyres, batteries and others. The store was handled by third party supplier, Yusen Logistics (India) Limited. Yusen Logistics is the only logistics service provider at the Franco-Japanese alliance's Oragadam production unit, which rolls out Nissan and Renault models for the domestic car market and exports to several other countries.
Nissan Motor India Private Limited is yet to reveal the scale of damages incurred due to the immensely unfortunate incident. However, sources suggest that losses could be in the range of several crores. Further, no casualties or injuries have been reported due to the fire. When the fire started evacuation exercise was done immediately and some 150 workers inside the warehouse were saved on time.
Since most of the goods present in the warehouse were flammable, the fire personnel had a tough time in containing the flames. It took over six hours for the fire men to take the situation under control and the cooling work was continued till late Thursday night. Nissan has affirmed that the production and exports operations won't be affected by the fire incident.
