A shipping channel on the west coast of India has been closed after a collision between two vessels on Saturday sent containers into the sea and also caused an oil spill, Livemint.com has reported.
Shipping between the ports of Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru will be disrupted for at least a week and Maersk Line has stopped accepted bookings for the area.
President of the Western India Shippers' Association R Venkatesh said the situation was serious. "The closure of the channel will have a very huge impact on trade," he said.
MSC Chitra, a container ship operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company SA, was sailing out of Jawaharlal Nehru with 1,200 containers when it was hit by the MV Khalijia 3, heading for Mumbai port.
Deepak Tewari, chief executive officer of MSC India, said the channel had been closed since Sunday.
"There are some 300 cargo containers floating around in the channel within a 2-3km radius, which is dangerous for navigation," Mr Tewari said.
"Ship movement along the channel has been stopped as a precautionary measure," said Jawaharlal Nehru port's chief operations manager SN Maharana.
"If there are containers underwater, it will cause damage to ships resulting in another disaster."
The Indian Navy is checking the area for any containers undetected under the water, as 17 vessels await berthing in Jawaharlal Nehru, with another eight waiting to sail out.
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