Tsunami causes mild damage: Shipping firms

The shipping industry is expected to bear the brunt of the devastating tsunami waves that left over 13,000 dead and millions displaced. The biggest earthquake in 40 years began 25 miles under the seabed off Indonesia, and measured nearly 9 on the Richter scale. Over 3,200 people have been killed in India alone, so far.

While the shipping industry is yet to take stock of the net damage, initial assessments says that there has only been a mild impact.

Shipping Corporation of India's interests in the Far East and the Southern coast of the country have been affected by the tsunami wave. The impact is mostly in terms of delays in consignments. P K Srivastava, Chairman and Managing Director of SCI says he is expecting port operations to normalise soon. He also adds that there has been no major damage to SCI property or life.

Srivastava told CNBC-TV18, "We had a ship in Andamans which has been damaged. But in Chennai, we were able to pull out the ships in time. We had some containers, which were washed ashore, about five. We are still assessing the exact number."

Harish K Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director of Mercator Lines confirms that their ships on the Eastern Coast of India are unaffected and says, "All our ships are safe and sound and are continuing their transit. We are in regular contact with the ships and all have confirmed that there hasn't been much damage. Four of our ships on IOC charter that were on the East coast of India have confirmed that they are safe. Two others ships which are on foreign charters have also confirmed that all is safe and sound."

"Two of our vessels have sailed out of Vizag and Haldia yesterday, so they are also operational. It's more of the smaller crafts which get impacted than larger vessels unless they are tied up or moorings," he added.

The company has not received any news of damage to cargo from its Thai operations. "In Thailand, it is mostly the Southwest coast that has been impacted. Most of the oil ports are on the Gulf of Thailand, which are on the Eastern side. We haven't got information on cargo damage and we are still collecting that information," Mittal said.