Industry fears huge losses in case ports remain closed.

With operations at the Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) coming to a standstill following the collision between two Panamanian cargo ships — MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-111 — off the Mumbai coast on Saturday, trade and industry fears the closure of the two busiest ports in the country would lead to losses worth billions of dollars if vessel movements are banned for more than three to four days. JNPT and Mumbai Port account for over 60% of the container traffic in India.

A Sakthivel, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the port closure will impact about $4 billion (over Rs 18,000 crore) of trade cargo if the situation is not addressed by the weekend. The FIEO chief also added that since each day’s delay at the port costs about 0.5% of the value of cargo, Indian importers and exporters would suffer a loss of $20 million each day and, therefore, he has already urged the government to waive the charges arising from suspension of operation at these ports.

Source : indianexpress.com