Mumbai port shutdown costs mount

Mumbai port shutdown costs mount    Mumbai ports' shutdown this week after a collision between a Mediterranean Shipping Co. containership and a bulk carrier is costing the shipping industry roughly $500 million per day, according to the head of Federation of Indian Export Organizations.
   FIEO president A. Sakthivel said in a statement Wednesday the closure of the Nhava Sheva port complex and Mumbai Port is costing the Indian importers and exporters about 0.5 percent of that total in per-day loss. An accident between the MSC Chitra and the bulk carrier Khalijia 3 Aug. 7 left the MSC vessel grounded and listing at a 35 degree angle off the Indian Coast.
   The ship lost about 300 to 400 containers, some of which are still floating in the waters off Nhava Sheva. The port, India's busiest container gateway, has been shut since the weekend.
   Sakthivel estimated the trade loss could top $4 billion if the ports aren't reopened by this weekend.
   Meanwhile, shipping ministry officials have told salvagers to speed up the work of clearing the stranded containers to clear the way for the reopening of the ports, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
   The salvagers are clearing four to six boxes a day, the report said.
   'You cannot afford to have ports closed for a week,' R. Venkatesh, vice president of the Western India Shippers Association, which represents about 130 exporters and freight forwarders, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. 'The reaction should have been much speedier.'
      As many as 32 ships have been stranded in the ports or were waiting to dock because of the shutdown, according to the government. MSC and Maersk Line have suspended the acceptance of export shipments until the situation is resolved.