Power Blackout Risks

some examples of impacts on specific industries during the 2003 blackout in u.s.
and canada.
12/13
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daimler chrysler: lost production at 14 of its 31 plants. 6 of those plants were assembly plants with paint 
shops. The company reported that, in total, 10,000 vehicles were moving through the paint shop at the time 
of the outage had to be scrapped. 
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ford motor company: at Ford’s casting plant in Brook Park, Ohio, the outage caused molten metal to cool 
and solidify inside one of the plant’s furnaces. The company reported that a week would be required to clean 
and rebuild the furnace.
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marathon oil corporation’s: the blackout was responsible for triggering emergency shutdown procedures 
at the Marathon Oil Corporation’s Marathon Ashland refinery about 10 miles south of Detroit. During those 
procedures, a carbon monoxide boiler failed to shut down properly, causing a small explosion and the release 
of a mixture of hydrocarbons and steam. As a precautionary measure, police evacuated a one-mile strip 
around the 183- acre complex and forced hundreds of residents to seek shelter elsewhere.
•
nova chemicals corporation: reported that plant outages resulting from the August 14 blackout reduced 
third-quarter earnings by USD 10 m or 12 cents per share. The power outage hit production at its Corunna, 
Moore Township, Sarnia, and St. Clair River, Ontario, and Painesville, Ohio, facilities.
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duane reade inc.: the largest drug store chain in the metropolitan New york City area reported that the 
August 14 blackout forced the closure of all of the company’s 237 stores. The company estimates that lost 
sales as a result of the interruption totalled approximately USD 3.3 m.
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airports: were closed in Toronto, Newark, New york, Detroit, Cleveland, Montreal, Ottawa, Islip, Syracuse, 
Buffalo, Rochester, Erie, and Hamilton. Together they cancelled over 1,000 flights.
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new york city: the comptroller’s office estimated that losses topped USD 1 bn, including USD 800 m in gross 
city product. The figure includes USD 250 m in frozen and perishable food that had to be dumped.
The Restaurant Association calculated that the city’s 22,000 restaurants lost between USD 75 m and USD 100 m 
in wasted food and lost business. Broadway lost approximately USD 1 m because of cancelled performances. 
New york City’s mayor estimated that the city would pay almost USD 10 m in overtime related to the outage.
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