Mumbai navigation normal, but 250 boxes 'good as lost'

BUSINESS is back to normal at India's west coast ports of Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru (JNPT) as the shipping channel to the ports has been cleared of the containers that fell from the decks of the MSC Chitra after it collided with the bulk carrier Khalijia 3.

"There is no congestion at the ports now. Around 93 vessels have left Mumbai and JNPT and 80 others have entered the ports to discharge or load cargo," said joint shipping secretary Rakesh Srivastava, reported London's International Freighting Weekly. Naval escorts have been discontinued, according to the Indian Directorate General of Shipping.

While all actual containers from the stricken MSC Chitra have been retrieved, 250 were "as good as lost" and expected to have drifted towards south Maharashtra, the report said. The MSC vessel is being "stabilised" by filling one its tanks with ballast water.

The shutdown that involved India's key container gateway is expected to impact trade worth US$4 billion, according to the president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. The Mediterranean Shipping Company has been held liable for payment of compensation by the Indian government and Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) for the fuel leak.

Said Mumbai port chairman Rahul Asthana: "Following the principle of strict liability, MSC will have to bear the cost of operations and the loss of business. This would also include the cost of cleaning up the environment once we have quantified it."

MSC's response was: "For reasons not known to us, the Khalijia 3 unexpectedly continued turning to port [to its left] and came back to cross the fairway again, now heading in a generally northbound direction and struck the MSC Chitra's port side. Therefore, it would appear that, under the rules of navigation, the Khalijia 3 was significantly in error. We, of course, await the results of the full inquiry."
(Source:www.schednet.com)